


The Gents and the Girls

by thebirdsandtheboxes



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Also spoilers for Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, Basically a rewriting of PL & Azran Legacy, But it's from the prespectie of an OC, F/F, Professor Layton and the Masked Gentleman, That OC is Randall's and Angela's daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:40:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21552412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebirdsandtheboxes/pseuds/thebirdsandtheboxes
Summary: What if Angela had been pregnant when Randle had left. 18 years later and this girl now has to live with the fact that her father is currently trying to destroy her city and her Family. With her girlfriend she is going to try to stop this maniac from turning her life upside down.
Relationships: Alphonse Dalston & Henry Ledore, OC/OC
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	The Gents and the Girls

One of Azra’s first memories was a gravestone. It was on a hill, but not over a grave. She had a lot of those memories. They were always the same: her mom crying over the stone, or the space in front of it, or silently standing next to her. She had never seen her mother stand by that gravestone not crying. Henry would stand behind her and hold Azra or hold her hand or her shoulder. And he would always lean down to her and tell her of the man whose stone it was. 

He was something like a fairy-tale to Azra. The hero, the explorer, the scientist who went on adventures and one day didn't come back. She knew he was her father so he must be real, but to her he never was. In the beginning she adored the stories about him. The adventures and ideas he had. The thrill of being the child of someone who was so brave.

But the older she got the less she liked the stories. The more she understood about life, the more she understood about him, the less she liked that man. The man who was so obsessed with an idea he left her mother behind, left her crying at a gravestone without a grave, on a hill in a village that was long abandoned. The Man who liked adventure more than his own daughter, so much he didn't think to come back. The man who never even knew he had a child and liked a mask and the thrill of answers more than staying alive.

Of course in the beginning she believed when Henry and her Mom told her that her father was still alive and they just had to find him. She fantasized about meeting him. Getting wrapped in the arms of a father, knowing she would never be alone again because now he was back. But as she got older she got angry. Why was he not back? Why was he leaving her behind? Did he hate her that much?

And then she stopped believing. She didn't have the love Henry and her Mom had for him. She didn't know him. So she stopped believing he was alive. She never told them. She kept listening to the stories Henry told her at the grave stone and her mother whispered to her as bedtime stories, that she had heard a thousand times already. But she didn't believe them anymore. And then she stopped coming when Henry and her mother went to her father's stone. She stopped her mom from telling her bedtime stories, she was too old for them anyway. She banished her father from her life. She returned the Robot that represented him back to Henry and she took down the picture of him from her wall. Not wanting to be reminded of how similar she looked to him. She dyed her hair brown to stop the memories of her father to haunt her reflection. She stopped having a father.

One of Azra's favourite memories was the first time she went exploring. There was a girl that just moved into town, her name was Ella and she was strange and exiting and she didn’t think Azra's story's about that explorer were stupid and she didn’t think she's making all that stuff about masks and ancient civilizations up and she didn’t think Azra was stuck up and too rich to play with because her mom and Henry owned the city. Instead she listened to Azra and told her they should find the ruins and the cities and the masks and maybe even the explorer. She asked her to go on an adventure like her father did and Azra said yes. That was the first time Azra had a real friend and the first time she came in contact with the ruins, with what she had left of her father. And the first time she said yes to Ella. From that moment she never stopped.

That memory from when she was 4 or so was followed by many, many more. Ella and Azra finding Ruins, Ella and Azra reading up on everything they could find about archaeology and old Cities and old Civilizations, Ella and Azra going to school together, Ella and Azra being best friends forever. Ella and Azra became a constant. Three words that could not be separated anymore. They were always together.

At first Azra's mom wasn't too happy about it, sure it was nice that her daughter had finally found a friend but the girl was such a rowdy, a rough child with wild ideas and loose upbringing and Ella was poor, not that she would admit that this was one of the problems she had with the kid but it definitely was. She thought Ella would corrupt her daughter. Giver her bad ideas and scraps on her knees. But as long as Azra was on her best behaviour she accepted it. So Azra learned how to please her mother. She hid the scraps, she did everything her mother expected her to do and know. If it meant being able to be around Ella she would learn how to behave around people, she’d learn how to ride a horse and how to dance ballet. She studied so her grades would be straight A’s and she did everything required to be top of her class. She was the perfect child for the richest man in town and his pretend wife. 

Azra learned to build a facade of politeness and manners and perfection that she kept up at home and in school. She only could be herself when she was around Ella. With Ella she learned how to skateboard and how to rock climb with and without gear (although as they got older and Ella once almost fell to her death when they were 10 they accepted the importance of climbing gear and proper safety precautions). With Ella she learned how to research (which was very helpful at school) and how to stay up all night without being absolutely dead the next day (which was also very helpful at school). With Ella she learned how to have fun, how to live, how to love. She learned that she was more than just the stories of a man that only existed in the memory of people, more than perfect behaviour and good grades. She learned self-worth. She was contend with doing everything her mother expected of her as long as that meant she could be with Ella. 

But that changed when they turned 16. Ella had been outed by some asshole in the school and the message of a lesbian spread like a wildfire in the city. Of course Azra was not at all surprised by the coming out. She had found out when they had been 11 and Ella had kissed her on the top of a cliff in an ancient ruin. That was also when Azra had found out that that was exactly what she was feeling for Ella. So it was not a surprise to find out her girlfriend of 6 years was indeed a lesbian. But who found out and was not at all amused was her Mother. Being the only friend of the lesbian in town meant being automatically assumed to be her girlfriend (with which in this case they were absolutely right). That was something her mother could under no circumstances allow. She forbid Azra to meet with Ella again. It took half a year of secret meetings with Ella and fights over fights with her Mother to settle the whole thing. Which basically meant Azra telling her mother she was indeed a lesbian and in love with Ella and there was nothing she could do about that and her Mother from that moment completely ignoring the issue. So she could meet with Ella again and her Mother never mentioned it again. 

By the time Ella turned 18 (she was older than Azra) the two of them had acquired a lot of knowledge about the Azran culture and equally much skill at exploring the ruins. By that year they could navigate them without problem.

When the mask of chaos was stolen from Azra’s house they hadn’t thought anything of it, it was valuable after all. But when the ‘Masked Gentleman’ appeared, wearing the mask, spreading chaos through their city at the busiest time of the year, they were hooked. “The Gent” (that’s how they called him) “appears in public, at big events preferably, where a lot of people are.” Ella said, leaning over a map of the city. Azra looked over Ella’s shoulder at the map. It had pinns in it where the three miracles had happened. “He has until now mostly shown himself on tall buildings, talking down to the crowds.” Said Azra, keeping their analysis going. They were not really sure where they were going with this but they were very good at brainstorming together, solving problems and figuring things out. They had done it since they could read. 

When they at last did stumble into the Gent it was a coincidence. They had been pondering over ideas for hours already and really felt like they could use some distraction.

“Want to go on a stroll, maybe walk over some roofs? See what the Gent feels like standing above the crowds maybe get some ice cream?” Azra proposed. Ella leaned back in her chair to look at Azra. “Oh how romantic. How could I say no” She said with a smug expression. Azra giggled, pressed a kiss on Ella’s cheek and pulled her up. 

They left Ella’s room. It was they spend most of their time, when they didn’t run around in the ruins or the city. Ella lived in a small flat with her single mom. That was one of the many things Ella and Azra had in common. No father. Ella’s father had left them when she had been 4. That was when they had moved. She sometimes got postcards from him. She kept them in a small box under her bed. It were barely a dozen but she treasured them. Azra never said anything about it. She might have given up on the idea of a father but that didn’t mean Ella had to too. 

Ella’s mom was cool. She had found out about their adventures very early, mostly because they always came to Ella’s before Azra went home, to clean off all the mud and dust from the caves and ruins, so that her mother wouldn’t find out. She had also found out about the two of them dating very quickly. When they were in Ella’s parts of town they were not very subtle. In these parts people didn’t bother you if you didn’t bother them. They all had their own worries. She had been cool about it. She had always been very welcoming towards Azra. Giving her a home when her Mother wouldn’t. 

They left the little apartment. It was in the poor part of the city. Azra loved this part. It wasn’t the artificial, clean, glamorous City her mother had envisioned. It was more natural than that. More alive, growing and changing always. The people were kind, if you treated them like people. She felt very at home here. 

They strolled through the city towards the main street. Here was where the parades happened, like every year around this time. They made their way through the masses of tourists that were flooding the streets. They stopped at a bell tower. It was tall enough for someone who stood on its roof to look at the whole parade at once, or in their case all of the tourists that pushed each other through the heat of the midday desert. They went in, it was open for everyone, though it was a bit of a challenge to get all the way to the top. It wasn’t technically allowed, mostly because the bells were very loud and could be rang by anyone. It had been an attempt to appeal to tourists. It hadn’t worked. The tower was empty as almost always. Rarely any tourist found their way here. It was drowned out by all the casinos and shops and attractions where you could leave your money. Why go to a bell tower if you could go somewhere flashy and expensive? So the problem wasn’t that big after all. And the only precaution was a rope that was supposed to close off the stairs. Not a problem for the two of them. And the view was amazing.

From up here they could really see the whole street. They stood on the top, looking down for a moment. The city they knew so well moving underneath them. Azra took Ella’s hand and smiled at her. Ella moved a bit closer to her, laying her head on her shoulder. They looked at the heads of all of the tourists below them. They had barely been up there five minutes when they heard the door around the back of the roof of the tower open. They looked at each other. Who the hell came up here? Were they busted? They really shouldn’t be up here. They waited which way the steps came and hurried around the other way, as silent as possible. Peeking around the edge they saw two men round the corner and step to the edge of the roof.

“This should do nicely” Said one of them. The other didn’t say anything. He kneeled down and placed something on the edge. He stood up and took a gun out of his bag. Azra and Ella looked at each other panicked. The man lifted the gun and aimed at something in the distance. Then he shot. A cord flew out of the barrel of the gun and disappeared. After a moment it stopped and the man separated the cord form the gun and hooked the other end of it into what he had placed at the edge. He tempered with it a bit more and the wire was now tautly stretched over the street and the rooftops beyond it. He stood up again nodded at the other man. “All set”  
“Great now we can get the rest ready for the miracle” the other answered to the nod. They turned and left the roof. 

They waited a few minutes until they left their hiding spot. “Did we just see what I think we saw?” asked Azra. Ella went to the cord on the edge of the Roof. She kneeled down and tuned her head to Azra. “Yea, I think so.” She looked at the cord and then back to where the door was. “Bit on the nose if you ask me.” Said Azra stepping to Ella. “Getting on a roof, shooting a cord gun and saying ‘now we have to get ready for the miracle’. Why not just spell out that they’re behind the mask. Just say: We are going to manipulate the parade with this diabolic plan we have, anyone want to stop us?” Ella grinned up at her. She stood up and closed the distance between them. “You know they didn’t really know someone was watching them” she said, her voice low. Azra wrapped her arms around her, pulling her closer. “Sure but when you make evil plans you always should be on the lookout for the opposing forces of good. They linger everywhere trying to thwart your plans.” Ella giggled pulling Azra into a kiss. “Are we thwarting evil plans now?” She asked chuckling. Azra pulled away her face light up.  
“Hey, no, that was a joke.” It was too late, Azra had already started hibbeling excitedly up and down. 

“We could totally stop them, just think of how cool that would be!”  
Ella sighed. She technically knew she had already lost. Once Azra got like this it was hard to get her to stop.  
“And how are we going to do that?” It had been a hypothetical question but Azra’s face lit up even more. It was enough engagement, she knew she had won. 

“We’ll take the mask from them. They can’t do the whole thing without the mask, right? And I mean technically it belongs to my family. So it’s not really stealing, am I right?”  
Ella wanted to say something about art theft and archaeology and privatization of artefacts but she just sighed and shrugged.  
“Whatever, sure” 

The rest of the day they spend planning. They had to be clever enough to get the mask, get away and not attract too much attention with the whole thing (and they had to be stupid enough to even consider this plan a good idea). They needed a good escape route. And the plan had to be safe enough to not go wrong (or at least give the impression of it). It was not easy but they came up with something. The fact that they only were two people did not make the whole thing easier and that they didn’t know how many people were involved on the opposing side. Really, the more Ella thought about it the stupider the idea got. So she just stopped thinking about it. The plan they ended up with was kind of improvised but hopefully it would work.

On that evening Ella snuck on the bell tower. She hid there with a backpack. Her skateboard waited for her at the foot of the tower. She was wearing black pants, a dark grey hoodie (the most inconspicuous things she owned), climbing gloves, a mask (one of those mask against smog) and sunglasses to obscure her face. She really didn’t want to be recognised afterwards. She was fast and agile. So that heightened her chances of getting away with this. Hopefully it was enough to escape a grown adult and phantom of the city. She was very nervous. This could potentially go very wrong, very fast. She had no idea what kind of people these men were. She just hoped everything would go according to plan. 

In the crowd underneath waited Azra for everything to go down. She had the same backpack as Ella and a similar dress up, in the crowd of tourists and colourful performers she was almost more conspicuous like this. She was at least as nervous as Ella, if not more. She could not do anything for Ella down here. She had to just wait for her to do her job right and hope to see her come out of the tower. It was also the first thing in a while that was a real lead on the whole ancient civilization department. And even if she didn’t want to be excited about the past of the mask and its connection to her father something deep in her was very excited about obtaining the mask that had been so important to her father that he would leave her mother to follow the trails it showed him.

The streets filled and the parade started. About 10 minutes in and the door to the roof opened. Ella congratulated herself in quiet on being right about the men. There, before her stood the Masked Gentleman himself. In a white suit, white hair flowing from under his top hat and the golden Mask on his face. She sneaked around the roof to open the door up. She put a stone down to keep it open. Then she waited, so did he. 

She heard screams form below. That was his Que. He stepped to the edge. That was her Que. He marched to the edge, twirling his walking stick. “One two three four, did you miss me Monte d’Or” he said. Before he could continue she was behind him. Stood on his right side and tipped on his left shoulder. The oldest trick in history and it worked every time and he wasn’t expecting it. So naturally he turned to his left side. Ella slipped next to him, making sure she had space to escape. 

“Hey Gent” She said. Like on que he turned to face her. She was prepared and used his confusion to pluck the mask right from his face. It came of how she had expected, it was the ancient technology that held it there and it was no problem taking it off. Before he could respond she had turned around and bolted for the door. It was open. Everything good so far. 

Inside a long staircase waited for her but she ignored it and instead held onto the rope that extended from where the bell was above her. It went all the way down, for the safety of the ears of the people ringing the bells. Ella could not care for her ears safety right now, or the gent’s ears. She was wearing earbuds though. This was also where the gloves came to play. She held on to the rope and starting sliding down. The bell started ringing. The earplugs did something, but not a lot. It was unbearably loud. She understood why people weren’t allowed up here. She could see the Masked Gentleman come through the door. He had his hand son his ears, cowering as if that would help with the sound. She was already a few stories lower than him. She could not hear him over the bells and she stopped looking up to concentrate on not dying, when she felt a tuck at the rope. She looked up and saw the man had followed her example. 

He was obviously not as good with ropes as she was. And she didn’t believe his gloves would help him much. They were more decoration and definitely no climbing gloves. She reached the floor and ran to the door. Outside she quickly stuffed the mask into the backpack and ran into the crowd. The streets were total chaos. There were statues standing around and people running from them. She assume this was the newest miracle. 

She got on her skateboard that waited exactly where she left it. She could hear the door of the tower slam open. He was after her. She navigated the crowd like only someone could that grew up in crowds like this. Azra waited for her where Ella expected her. She rushed past her and with a very fast motion they swapped backpacks. Ella kept on, and Azra turned around and disappeared into the crowds. She would go home and hope Ella was going to be fine. The plan was going good until this point. She had to trust in Ella to do the rest good as well.

Ella went through the crowd with her skateboard. The Gent was close behind. This was fine. It was not ideal but they had a plan for this. She kept on moving, keeping the Gent at a distance. He had lost his hat and didn’t stand out among the artists and acrobats of the parade. She led him through the city, just being fat enough for him not to catch up with her. Like this they travelled through streets and alleyways until Ella stopped in an alley that ended in a brick wall. She leaned against said brick wall, turning to face him. She reached behind her with her hand and opened a hatch to a door that lead out of this not so dead end. She didn’t open the door yet. She waited for him. He stopped at the beginning of the Alley. A triumphant smile played on his face. Something about it seemed awfully familiar. 

“Got you.” He said. She raised her hands one of her hands holding out the backpack in his direction. “Now give it back you little brat.” He commanded. She threw the backpack in his direction. It landed far enough for him to not reach it from where he stood. He moved towards her and bend down to grab it. While his head was down she opened the door and slipped through quickly. She closed it behind her again leaving him alone in the alleyway. He opened the bag to find it empty. He swore, loudly enough for Ella to still hear him. When he looked up again she was gone. He swore again.

She stood in the back of a costume shop. It belonged to a wonderful lady called Madam Lapushka. She was a bit of a gossip, but she had a soft spot for the girls. They speculated that it may have something to do with their relationship and her lack of a husband. 

She had the best stories and was a more or less reliable source for happenings in the city. But they had never had to dread with the fear of their secrets slipping from her lips. She was very protective of the girls and took everything they told her very serious. Additional to that she also helped them out of trouble now and again. They were always allowed to use the back entrance. Sometimes they helped her in the shop in return. They had learned quite a lot from her. Like forging old relics, which was a bit concerning but very useful. 

Ella quickly took of the hoody, the mask, the sunglasses and the gloves. She wore a dark green t-shirt underneath it. Inconspicuous but different enough so to not register on the Gent’s radar if he should be looking for her.

Ella stepped into the main room of the shop. There stood a man with a very interesting fashion sense, a woman in a very yellow jacket and a child with a blue colour scheme. Madam Lapushka turned around, to look at her. “Oh what wonderful timing dear. I was just talking to this nice man. He’s new in town. He’s investigating the whole Masked Gentleman affair”

Said man was wearing a top hat and a very matching suit jacket with an orange turtleneck pullover underneath. He did remind her a bit of the Gent. “Hello Sir” she said. She was well raised after all. 

“A good day to you young Lady.” Said the man. She really hated being called a young lady. On further consideration she couldn’t think of anyone who would have enjoyed being called that. “My name is Professor Layton. We just came from the parade. A travesty what happened there.” An academic man, maybe that justified the hat and the suit. “Word spreads fast in a city like this. I heard of the statues. The Masked Gentleman again?” She continued the conversation, only lying a bit, eager to gather any information she could. 

“I suppose it must have. I haven’t seen him yet. I only arrived yesterday.” Well it would have been too good to get information this easily.  
“I only read of him. Supposed to be dressed in a suit and top hat” She allowed herself to let her eyes trail his clothes. Internally she smiled about her rudeness. “And a mask of course” That not anymore, though. She only added that in her mind, but it did feel good thinking of their triumph. If he picked up on her small suggestion towards his and the Gent’s clothing style he did not mention it.

She was unsure how long she could stay here. She better get a move on. “Well I must be going. It was wonderful seeing you Madam Lapushka, take care. And nice meeting you Professor.” She smiled politely.  
“The pleasure was all mine.” He said with a polite nod. She left through the front door and turned to go home. 

Azra had in the meantime reached her home. She had made her way there without any problems. She had sneaked into her room after the parade. Her mother didn't approve of her going out so late. And definitely not since the whole Masked Gentleman stuff had started. At home she did exactly what they had planned. She put the Mask in a different bag, a smaller one and then she waited. The Parade had to be over and the tumult calmed down. Then she would go and hide the Mask in the ruins. 

The Ledore’s house was not a good spot for hiding the mask because the first place the Gent would probably look for it was in the house where he had stolen it from in the first place. So they hid it in the ruins. While being very much publicly accessible, Ella and she had never met a single person down there. And they knew it’s every stone. If there was a safer spot for the mask then in a room underground, surrounded by a maze full of traps then they did not know about it. And who would look for a stolen Mask in the room where it originally belonged in. Stolen goods were kept under beds and in safes. Not in cryptic caves below a city full of curious tourists. Which was why it was the safest place for it, at least for now. 

She waited half an hour. By now Ella would be done and on her way to Azra, if the plan went well, that was. They would meet soon in her room, after Azra hid the mask. 

The day had already been almost over when the parade had started, when Azra stepped outside the day had turned into night. It was dark and the heat that laid over the days here in the desert, had left for the cool night air. She carried the mask in a small bag by her side. The streets were empty, the shock of the newest wonder of the Gent having scared all the tourists and locals from the streets into the safety of four walls. 

Azra was alone on the streets. She loved this time of day. Her city laying before her, and only her. Opening all the alleys and streets only for her. She had had to sneak out of the window. But she was used to that. Countless evenings and nights spend with Ella underneath the stars, just the two of them in the city they both loved so much and the ruins they knew so well, had made her an expert on getting out of her house unnoticed.

She walked the streets, silently, keeping in the shadows that the streets were almost exclusively made out of at this hour, but you never knew who might be watching you. Especially if you carried an ancient artefact that you just stole only minutes earlier.

She opened one of the entrances to the ruins that were the foundation underneath the city. They were all hidden, not too well though. If you wanted to find them they would let you.

She walked through the tunnels and hallways of long lost civilizations. The ruins felt like home to her. She had roamed them as much as the city up above. She walked fast and sure of where she wanted to go, where she could step. She found the room without trouble. It was a circular room with a tall ceiling. It was the centre of the ruins. The heart of this city. 

The room had been found a long time ago by people looking for the child lost to the ruins. The room had two pillars in the middle. One for the mask of chaos one for the mask of order. The mask of Chaos she held in a bag by her side. The mask of wonder was a mystery to everyone.

She had grown up with the Mask. It had hung on the wall in Henry's study. Another reminder of the father she had never had. The man that had given her up for this relic and it was displayed in her house like something holy. She wasn't allowed to touch it, which had never stopped her. She stole it a lot, often enough to have a very good copy that she had put in its place. Madam Lapushka had helped her make it. She was such a strange woman. She was like a weird aunt to the girls.

Her mother and Henry never noticed. But she always put it back at its place on the wall. A month ago she wished she hadn't. It had been stolen, the most important puzzle piece of the ruins. That copy now laid hidden underneath her bed, a ruse in case someone were to look for it in her room.

She put the mask in the small bag well hidden in a crook in the walls of the room. If you didn't know where it was and didn't know the room like she did you wouldn't know it was there. She left the room, she didn't want to stay longer than necessary. And Ella would surely be already waiting for her.

As she walked through the corridors she heard something that definitely did not belong here: Footsteps. They moved towards her. Coming from the city. She quickly hid in a dent in the walls. She didn't have to wait long. A man walked right past her. He was dressed strangely. It looked like a disguise, but who was he disguising from, in the middle of the night in empty catacombs. And really, a big hat, a feather boa, a gigantic cape and a white mask was not very useful if you didn't want people to remember you or notice you. 

He moved quick and seemed sure on where to step. She was intrigued. A very strange and visually loud man who would have fit in better at a masquerade ball a hundred years ago than in ancient ruins, walking like he knew every stone, as if he owned the place.

Curious she followed him. What did he do here? What was his business here? Did he know the ruins as well as it seemed he did? Would he find the mask? Where was he going?

He did end up in the room of order and chaos. With her on his heels. He stood in the room. He did nothing. He just stood there. What a strange man.

"Are you just going to stand there, watching me?" God damn it, he had noticed her. He was good. "That was the plan, yea" she replied. He turned around a smile playing on his lips. He was amused by her boldness. Or her stupidity. Same difference really. "What does a young lady like you do in a place like this, in the middle of the night?" God how she hated being called a young lady. But really, who liked being called that? "Oh you know, teenager stuff." she said. That was possibly the vaguest thing and the biggest lie she could have said.

"Is spying on strangers in catacombs teenager stuff now?" he teased her.  
"Well if you know my motives so well, then why do you ask?" she shot right back.  
"So you are here to spy on me? Who has send you? That damned Layton? Did he sink low enough to send young women to do his work now?" 

Interesting. A nemesis maybe. She made a mental note to do some research on that Layton man. "If you say so, Sir. You seem to have quite a good picture of the situation already. And what are you doing here standing in the middle of a room, in ruins under a city that you don't live in, in clothes that would make even the most trusting, oblivious people suspicious, if I may ask?" His amused smile disappeared. Had she hit a nerve? Which one had it been? The clothes? Possibly. If someone dressed like this they must do it out of conviction. 

"I don't see why that should be any of your concern." He said coldly. She tried to suppress a laugh. He had seemed so cool and kept together and all it took to get him out of his reservations was to insult his fashion choices. 

"Well I am spying on you, you said it yourself. So all my concerns should be about you right now, shouldn't they?" she put on the sweetest smile she could manage. It was hard to keep the mockery out of it though. He glared at her. 

“You work for that masked idiot?” She asked, he was already pissed so why not poke a bit further. He was after all similarly strange dressed. His face did not get any lighter at that. 

“You should know, as one of Layton’s minions, that I don’t work for people they work for me.” He snarled at her. She was really hitting one sore spot after the other.

“So what the Gent works for you then?” She asked hoping to keep him talking. 

“That is truly none of your business! And I don’t think it is very wise of a young girl like you to be in such a place like this all alone. You should leave before something happens to you.” Had he just threatened her? This had gone bad really fast. What had she said that had upset him so much? Okay granted that she had mostly made fun of him it wasn’t such a stretch that he might be pissed off. But this was extreme. She didn’t want to know what the next step here was. So before he got any funny ideas on how to handle a nosy girl like her she decided to rather leave.

"Well I'll leave you to it." she said and stepped back. He looked like he wanted to say something else. But whatever it had been he decided against it. She turned and left. If he knew of the Mask, there was nothing she could do about it, if he didn't she should do nothing to give it away. He was probably not going to give her anything to work with. Not without her telling him too much of what she knew. And she'd rather he didn't know her involvement. 

As ridiculous as he looked he had a certain dangerous aura to him. While walking back up she listened for footsteps behind her. There were none. She took a few extra detours still. You could never be too safe with strange people like him.

Azra did not go home after that. She was too intrigued by the situation and the possibility of finding something on the man or his opponent. She instead went straight to the library to look up all the Laytons she could find. She might have also forgotten that Ella was waiting for her.

There was an archaeology Professor, who frequently helped Scotland Yard, there was a rich lady who owned a huge part of a City in Ireland, there was a kid who was a child genius, winning prizes and inventing things left and right, and there were a lot of ordinary people. That was all she could find in the archives of the city’s library. 

She found some very interesting thing on the archaeologist. In an article about the aforementioned professor it said that he discovered some garden that had connections to the Azran culture. 

Azra really did not like that her mother must have thought it hilarious to name her daughter after the ancient civilization that took her love and her daughter’s father away from her. And she liked it even less that she herself was now equally invested in the civilization she was named after. 

The article was interesting, but what was even more interesting was that the city had been plagued with a phantom a few months before. In one of the articles, dated most recent before the article about the professor, showed a picture of a big robot that was controlled by someone, who suspiciously looked like the man she had just run into. Something told her she had a hunch here. 

Another article she had found on the archaeologist was about the kidnapping of the whole audience of an opera about Ambrosia, a legend that had connections to the Azran. Actually the whole opera had been kidnapped. It had turned into a ship and the audience had just been on the ship. He and a group of people were later saved from an island that turned out to be the lost island of Ambrosia, another Azran legacy. This man was very peculiar.

Meanwhile Ella sat in Azra’s room waiting for her to return. She was fairly concerned that she had not done so yet. It had been over an hour already. It shouldn’t take that long. 

They didn't like going to the ruins alone, even if they knew them very well, it was a dangerous place to be and even more dangerous when there was no one there to hear you scream, to help you out of holes and come to your rescue. And it was even worse in the dark. Even if the city was never truly dark, like any city. But the light rarely reached the underground. The ruins were only mildly illuminated by fluorescent stones now and then. 

When Azra didn’t return after another half hour of waiting she stopped waiting and went looking for her. It was not in the plan but screw the plan. If Azra was trapped somewhere in the ruins that wasn’t really in the plan either.

Before she let herself get completely panicked she checked the library. This would have been stupid if it had been anyone else, but Azra actually might have spent more time in the building than at her own home. It was Azra’s escape whenever she needed somewhere to escape to. And the place she went when she had a hunch on anything. Really if you wanted to find Azra you should always first check the library. So she checked there first, before she started the impossible challenge of finding someone in a maze of ancient ruins.

And who would have guessed there Azra sat huddled over Books and newspapers her face buried deep in the pages. The library was open 24 hours. This was thanks to a very dedicated, maybe a bit crazy librarian. And good funding from the Ledors. Ella had a hunch that Henry knew of Azra’s dedication to the place and he had always had a soft spot for her.

Ella made a small noise of relief. She was angry at her girlfriend for being like this but she was so relieved she was here, safe and warm. The noise made her presence known to Azra. Azra turned around. She smiled all innocently at Ella.

"Ella. Did everything go well?" she asked. Ella sat next to her putting her head in her hands. "Everything went well. Except for the fact that you didn’t turn up. What were you thinking? I thought you were dead or kidnapped or trapped." she whispered loudly. They might be the only people in the library except for the librarian but that one was like before mentioned a bit crazy. 

Realisation dawned on her face. “Oh I’m sorry Ella. I didn’t think of that. Forgive me.” She looked distressed and started franticly explaining herself “I met a man in the ruins. He was strange and he seems to be connected to the Gent. You should have seen him he moved through the ruins like he owned the place. And he said something about a Layton and I was so intrigued that I immediately went here.” 

Ella sighed. “Well I’m glad you’re okay.” She thought about getting into talking to strangers in catacombs under the city, but she wasn’t Azra’s mother and it was not her responsibility. So she took a deep breath in, closed her eyes for a moment, exhaled slowly and let the anger go, as best as she could.

"Well what did you find out?” she asked Azra. Her face lit up. “Here look these articles.” She started and went into a speech about articles, ancient civilizations and archaeologists. Ella listened to her patiently. Her passion was less in the civilization and more in exploring, climbing and adventure. She liked the kick of adrenalin she got from going through dark caves and climbing down cliffs. The physical challenge was what drove her to the ruins. She loved the research and the stories too, but more in a second hand way. She loved Azra’s enthusiasm over it. 

She looked at the picture on the first article “I met that guy. He was in Madam Lapushka’s store." she told when Azra had finished. "A professor with an interesting fashion style."

"That seems to be not out of the ordinary with these kind of people." Azra pointed on the paper before her to the woman next to the professor "that's his assistant. The kid is his apprentice or something, bit young if you ask me. Now get this. Only a few months before the Prof Guy discovered this Azran garden there were some weird instances of a phantom terrorizing the city. And guess who is in this picture on the article about it." she pointed to the small picture of the robot with the man on it. Ella looked at it then at Azra "I assume it's the feather boa guy you met." Azra nodded. 

"Well if you ask me that's no coincidence.” Agreed Ella. Two city's with Azran legacy, both terrorised by something and both this guy and the prof show up. There is definitely some connection there." Ella recounted. Azra nodded again very enthusiastic.

"Yea I think so too. You said you met this Layton guy? Was there anything noteworthy about him?" Ella leaned back in her chair thinking for a moment and then shook her head. "Not really. I mean the whole top hat thing is strange but nothing substantial. He mentioned the parade but it just had happened and word spreads. He mentioned the Gent but said he hadn't seen him. He called me a young lady. That was shit." Azra made a knowing noise. "So did the weirdo in the ruins. Maybe it's the generation. Or the clothing. Or a code word. Rude none the less." 

They sat for a moment. "What now? Shall we look if, you know, is still there?" Ella asked. Azra shook her head. "No too soon. The feather boa man might be there still waiting for me to come back. I'd rather do other things. How about a break?" Ella sighed and nodded. 

“I could use some sleep.” She said. “Meet me again tomorrow morning?” 

"Sounds like a plan"

Neither Ella nor Azra could sleep well. Azra too excited about the new information, Ella too anxious still. They both individually decided to ditch sleeping at about 6 am and instead get a coffee at their favourite café. 

Azra was already there when Ella arrived.

“Up so early?” she asked mostly not to startle Azra, put her hand on her shoulder and planted a kiss on her hair. Azra laid her head on the hand and mumbled “Couldn’t sleep.” Ella sat next to her and ordered a black tea. 

They sat and talked about whatever. Just enjoying being together for a moment. It didn’t happen too often that they could just enjoy the moment with each other. It didn’t last too long. Ella suddenly stopped, looking out the window. Her eyes following something. "I think that's him." she said, barely a whisper. "Who? What do you mean?" Azra replied intrigued in a low voice. She searched the streets outside the café. There was one figure catching her eyes, she didn’t know what it was about him that alarmed her. He looked familiar. Then she recognised him, he was one of the men from the rooftop. The one who had talked too much. Before Ella could say it she already knew the answer to the question.

"The Gent. I saw him yesterday, without the mask and I'm very sure that's him." Ella affirmed her guess. Azra jumped up grabbed Ella's arm and pulled her outside. "Well what are we waiting for? Follow him!" She hissed and pushed Elle in the direction he had left to. Ella hesitated. She was second guessing if they were about to fall even deeper into an adventure that wouldn’t be safe or easy. But then she pushed her doubts and concerns away and started to follow the man and her girlfriend who was already walking after him. They kept a safe distance, now and then stopping to seem less suspicious. He led them to the biggest hotel in the city. Hotel Reunion. 

It had been the first building of Monte d’Or. Both the girls loved it in very different ways. For Azra it was an important part of her home, it was what started it all and yet it was the building that was most linked to her father. This was one of the only things she never had managed to cut out of her life, to not ignore. It was too big, literally and figuratively. It might have been the only link between her father and her other than the ruins. The place that was made only so they could find Randall. The place that had founded the city. He had spent a good chunk of her first years in this building. She had done her first steps here and had her first climbing session down the balconies here. Henry, Angela and her had moved to the hotel pretty early. They had wanted to be close to the search. Azra had loved the place her whole life. It had grown with her and she had grown up in it. Henry still had a couple of rooms booked here. Now and then she stayed here if she needed a place that wasn’t the library.

Ella loved it because of its architecture. It was mysterious and at places almost impossible. They had spent countless days wandering the halls as they were built. It was her past. It was the building that grew with her. That got more complicated as time went on. The bigger it got the better one could climb, run, skate and explore in it. It was a safe paradise for her. And even in a city full of neon signs it managed to stand out. It was being seen without having to be like the rest of the city. It was beautiful in its own way. Even now she still sometimes roamed the halls of the hotel if she needed an escape. The ruins were great and exciting but the hotel was so much like her city it felt like home.

"Looks like he's staying here" Azra stated the obvious. Ella had stopped but Azra pulled her further entering the hotel behind the Gent. Ella leaned to Azra and started laughing, as if she had just said something very funny. Azra played along, giggling and started making up something at the spot. No one gave them a second glance. They were just some tourists. Probably still drunk from a night of losing tons of money that they hadn’t worked for. The city was filled with those kind of people. It was the perfect disguise.

The Gent entered one of the lifts and as the door closed Ella pulled Azra closer. She had planned to watch the numbers above the elevator to find out where he would get off but he must have noticed them because the doors opened again. 

"Did you lady's want to go up?" he asked politely holding the doors open. Ella panicked but Azra took over "How thoughtful of you. Thank you a lot, Sir." She pulled Ella in the elevator with her. "What a wonderful city this is, isn't it?" said Azra, initiating a conversation. "It is rather wealthy" he answered. 

For a moment he seemed very cold, almost sad or maybe angry. But then it passed or he overplayed it. "Are you two young women having a vacation here?" Azra was very good at small talk and exchanging niceties, so while she was conversing with the Gent, Ella took the time to take a closer look at him. He had black hair, not very suspicious. But it was from this close up quite obvious that it was indeed a wig. It was less obvious than white hair that he wore as the Gent. But she could see some tiny red streaks of hair hanging out of the wig. He had a rather slim face and he was wearing big glasses. 

The feeling she had had when first seeing him in the alleyway returned. Something about him seemed awfully familiar. She couldn't quite pinpoint it. It was as if she knew his face, the way he held his body, something even about the shape of him in general seemed extremely familiar. It was like when you have a thought and immediately forget it and it stays lingering at the edge of your consciousness. It was quite infuriating.

"I'm here for business so I sadly could not join any of the carnival fun yet." said the Gent. The lift dinged and he said "Oh this is my floor" but before he could say his goodbyes Azra had cut in "Really? What a coincidence this is our floor. How have we not met each other?" 

She started getting out alongside him. Ella followed suit. "Since when have you been here?" she was really playing the enthusiastic tourist like a pro. "Oh about a month. Maybe we'll see each other again another day. This is my room" they had arrived at a door. 

"Well always nice to make fun acquaintances. See you around" She waved and carried on down the hall. They heard the door open and close. Ella dared a look behind her and the Gent had really left. She pulled Azra into the next staircase.

“What the fuck were you thinking? That was stupidly dangerous. What if he had recognized me?” Ella scolded her. Azra smiled with self-satisfaction. “Well we got some really nice information out of it, didn't we. We know his hotel room. And that he is indeed not a local.” Ella rolled her eyes.

"It was dangerous and you shouldn't throw yourself in danger juts like that. What if the other guy had been there? He knows how you look." Azra made a 'you're overreacting' face. "It was night in the ruins, I was wearing dark clothes I doubt that he saw a lot of me, honestly. You think they work together though?" Ella nodded “Would be a bit of a too big coincidence if they weren’t, wouldn’t it?” Azra shrugged and did a half nod. She started to walk towards the stairs. The conversation seemed to be settled for her. 

Ella caught up with her. "Just promise me to consult me beforehand the next time you make very dangerous decisions" she said. Azra did not answer but only sighed.

Descole had seen the two girls talking with Randall. One of them seemed awfully familiar. Even though the light had been terrible in the ruins under the city he could still recognise her. And now she and this other girl were talking to Randall, that idiot. He had gone out for groceries. They needed to eat after all. But it should go without saying that he really shouldn’t be talking to anyone. After all his voice echoed through the streets of this city often enough. And these two were definitely trouble. 

The only explanation was that Layton had already found out who was behind the mask and that he was the string puller. He really couldn’t handle any more of this interference. First the guy who stole the mask and now these kids who were talking to Randall and sneaked around the ruins. 

He had to put a stop to this right this instance. He would follow the girls and find out who they were and all that. He followed them. He wasn’t wearing a disguise, why would he? He had been in his hotel room after all. So he went out in no disguise. It was dangerous but really no one knew him here. What could go wrong?

They went the way from the hotel in silence. Azra broke the silence. "I've got to get home. I really don't want my mother to know I've been gone almost the entire night. I could do with not getting screamed at for once." they stood at the crossroad between her house and the rest of the city. Ella looked slightly pained "I didn't screamed at you. I'd never. I'm just concerned." 

Azra gazed up at her and chuckled. "I wasn't talking about you. I'm not mad. You're right I shouldn't have just decided for both of us. I just saw an opportunity and took it. Forgive me. I endangered you unnecessarily." She reached up and brushed Ella's cheek with her hand. "No you don't need to apologize. I would have been fine. And there was no time to talk about it. I'm just glad we're fine." 

Azra laughed at that. "So what you're saying is that we're both idiots and we're both wrong?" Ella joined her laughing. She pulled Azra in for a small kiss and stepped away from her then, smiling "Good luck with your Mom" Azra sighed "Thanks I'll need it." she turned to leave.

On the gate to her House, it was less of a house and more of a mansion, she met Henry who seemed to also have been gone all night. They smiled at each other, fear on both of their faces. They went down the path to the house quickly and opened the door as silent as possible. Tip toeing through the hall they tried to reach the steps. A door flew open. They startled, hunching their shoulders frozen in their position.

"Where the fuck do you two think you're going?" Her mother's voice echoed through the hall. The people who knew Angela Ledore would have said she was a nice and calm woman. She was always pleasant to be around. She didn't say too much and her voice was sweet and quiet. Those people were not Henry and Azra. These people did not know her like they did.

People would assume that Henry was the boss in the house. He was the richest man in the city after all. Those people were very wrong. Not only was Angela a good amount more clever and capable than Henry and pulled all the strings behind the scenes but she had organised most of the foundation of the city and their wealth. Like people said, behind every successful man stands a tyrant of a woman. Henry also happened to immediately turn into the biggest bottom whenever Angela raised her voice even a little. 

Admittedly he was a bottom the rest of the time too, but it was part of the façade, that Angela cared so much about, that he had an aura of power around him. I was completely artificial and everyone who knew him properly knew this about him. But just like with Angela there were very few people who could say they really knew him.

What was happening right now was definitely more than a little voice raising. This was pure fury. 

"Face me when I am talking to you" she demanded. Azra really regretted not sneaking in through the window about now. Slowly Henry and Azra turned around. Azra had perfected the apologetic neutral face. Henry had not. He looked like a kicked puppy.  
"You will immediately tell me where you were"

Azra stuttered a bit and managed to say "I was just out for some coffee" Henry muttered "Work"

The fury in her mother's face did not lessen. Of course not. This was not about where they had been. Angela wouldn’t have cared if Azra had been saving the pope himself. This was about the fact that they had not been here. 

"All night and all of yesterday evening?" Her mother asked her. Azra said something that could be interpreted as "Carnival" if one really wanted. Somehow she got even angrier "You know exactly how I feel about the carnival Azra Ledore. And now especially with that lunatic running around."

She took a deep breath. Maybe to calm herself, maybe to gather some breath for a particularly bad rant. "Do you know where I was yesterday while you were out and about?" She made a dangerous pause. Neither dared to speak. "I was here welcoming Hershel to our house and city. And I had to tell him neither my husband nor my daughter were present. Do you know how humiliating that was?" 

They glanced at each other. They really had forgotten about the old friend that should have arrived yesterday. They knew they screwed up real bad. If there was anything that was sacred to Angela it was her reputation, what people thought about her. And they had made her look sad and lonely. Not that that would have been wrong, but that was not the image she wanted to portray. 

"Now I asked Hershel to come for tea today and you better both be here and on your best behaviour, am I making myself clear?" With that said she turned back into the sitting room. Henry and Azra looked at each other and went their separate ways. Each to their rooms to make themselves suitable for an afternoon tea with an old family friend.

While Azra was getting screamed at Ella was being followed. She noticed the man behind her, just far away enough to not be suspicious. He was following ever turn she made. In the beginning she hadn't thought anything of it. A tourist, there were lots of those here. But when she left the regular tourism trails and he was still there she started to worry. So she did not go home. Who knows who that was. She wasn't going to lead him directly to her home. So she made some turns back to busy streets. She was gaining some space on him. It was harder to follow her with the tourists pouring back in the streets. She had almost lost him when she walked straight into someone. 

She had been so preoccupied with the man behind her that she hadn't seen the man in front of her. He turned and caught her from stumbling, a chaste hand on her arm. She looked up at the tall silhouette. It was mostly as tall as it was because of the top hat on the man's head. It was the Professor she had met yesterday. The Professor who had found the Azran Garden.

"Pardon me" she said stepping back. "Are you alright young lady?" he asked politely as they get.

"Oh, yes. I just didn't look where I was going." she glanced in a window and saw her follower catching up again. She panicked, she needed to get away. "Didn't we meet yesterday?" he said politely, she couldn't stand people who were only polite because they felt like they had to, who talked just because it was what one did. It reminded her of the people who made Azra so miserable. 

"We did. In Madame Lapushka’s shop." the man was almost where she stood. He couldn't attack her while she was talking with this guy, did he? She only needed to keep him talking for longer. "We talked about the masked Gentleman. Any new revelations?" she followed up quickly. 

"I don't believe so. Some people claim having seen him yesterday in the crowd right after the incident with the stone statues. But he seemed not to have made an entrance like he did on other days." he told her. She hadn't expected him to give her any information actually. "Really? How strange. That he would change his pattern." she said. 

"Indeed I found so too.” Was he really that keen on talking to people that he would tell her all he knew about the incident? “My companions and I are on our way to the Ledor’s house. We'll have tea with them" he told her. How strange. She hadn't heard of Angela and Henry having guests in a while and then with this dubious fellow. How strange indeed. Her follower approached and kept on walking. She startled a bit. So she had imagined the whole following thing. He was a tourist after all. Nothing to worry about. But the conversation had gotten interesting. "The Ledors, how peculiar, do you know them?" An expression crossed on his face for a short time. Something like curiosity but not really maybe realisation, whatever it was it was gone as fast as it arrived. 

"I do, they're old friends. Why do you find it peculiar?" Oh so he was nosy, was that it? Who was this man, what did he do here? An old friend he had said, that must have been a very old friend, for the last 18 years they had done nothing than business and concealing everything of their lives with a sheen of distant politeness. "They keep to themselves a lot. You rarely see the couple outside of official matters." she kept it vague. 

He didn't need to know that she might be the person who knew the Ledors better than any other person. If mostly for Azra. Even she was rarely invited in their house. Even though she and Azra had been dating for the last two years, but maybe that was a reason for it. Before that she had been there more often, but Angela had never approved of Ella or Azra’s friendship with her, let alone their relationship. 

"Interesting, I have heard that more than once already. They used to be so open. Although, Henry I never really knew that well." he said the last thing more to himself, remembering a time long ago. 

How strange that this archaeologist, who had discovered a garden from the Azra, long thought lost, had known the people who had built a life on the ruins of a city by the same civilisation. And now there was the Gent, with the mask of Chaos, by said civilisation, saying he could perform miracles. And a weird looking man, who roamed in the ruins and had been terrorising the village with the garden. Very peculiar indeed. The Azran really had to be the key between these four parties. 

"You know them? From where?" she asked. His gaze still in a time past, he said "We were in school together. I moved away when I was 18, after..." he paused. Then he was suddenly back in the present. "After school" he added quickly. His face was unreadable but it was clear that he wanted to hide something. Or at least not talk about it to a total stranger on the street. Ella couldn’t blame him for that. 

"Well, it was nice talking to you. But we do need to get a go on. Have a nice day young lady" she was out of danger so no reason to keep up the conversation. She had gathered more information than she could have expected. "Goodbye, have a nice meeting with the Ledors." 

She stepped away and turned homeward. She had just stepped into a small, empty alleyway, a shortcut, when she was grabbed by her shoulders and slammed into a wall. A hand laid over her moth. Before her stood the man who had followed her. So she had not been paranoid after all. She recognised him now, he had been on the rooftop with the Gent. He had handled the cord gun. He was about the age of the professor. He was tall and handsome. With brown reddish hair, it fell in locks to his shoulders. He was wearing red rendered glasses. He would have looked rather kind, if he wasn't slamming her into a wall. 

"I knew you two were working for Layton. How did you find me, how did you find out who Randall is? If he knows, why hasn't he done anything? What is he playing?" now that was strange. Maybe he was just crazy. But then different aspects of the accusations settled in. Working for Layton. Hadn't the feather boa weirdo stated something of that sort? Could he be the same person? And what was that about finding him? Why would he needed to be found? Was he hiding? But why? Was this man also behind the chaos mask? No they knew who that was. So was he working with him? 

And find Randall. Who was Randall? She knew that name. Didn't Azra's father have that name? Something dawned on her. The Gent, his face, his body, his red hair she knew it because it was Azra's. He looked like her. Or rather she looked like him. He was her father. But what had he done all those years away? Why was he here now? Why was he doing all this? And what did this man have to do with anything? 

Had he followed them from the hotel? Had he seen them talking to the Gent? Was that why he assumed all of this? She must have looked very scared or very confused. Because he said "Speak girl. What is he planning?" 

She wouldn't have known what to say even if she could have said something. His hand was still over her mouth. She needed to come up with a plan. She needed to talk with Azra. She needed to get away from this lunatic. She gestured to the man's hand with her eyes. He looked down at his hand on her mouth. He startled a bit and took it down. 

"Now speak!" he demanded. She smiled at his panicky stumble. He didn't seem to have the situation under control much. Really he wasn't even threatening her. "I will not tell you what I know or what the professor plans. Not right now anyway. I may be interested in an exchange though. Your information against mine. Meet me with the Masked Gentleman this evening in the ruins underneath the city." with that she pushed him away from her. She did not wait for him to respond. She needed to use his surprise to get away. He stopped her by holding on to her arm. 

"We'll be there. After the miracle. On the Gallery Plaza. Don't tell Layton about this." He let her go and she walked down the alleyway. She hoped he would let her leave. She didn't look back. Had she, she would have seen a very exhausted and panicked man, who had lost control of a situation he had gotten himself into. 

Once she rounded the corner she started to run, but not home. There was no time. She ran to Azra's house. They would be at tea by now but she never came through the front door anyway. She climbed over the fence behind the house walked through the big garden and climbed to her window on the second floor. She had done this a million times and the window was always open.

Azra had freshened up as good possible. The bags under her eyes were hard to get rid of, even with makeup she looked exhausted. She hadn't slept in a while. But she took a shower and put on fresh clothes, a little fancier than what she would usually wear. When she left her room to see her mother downstairs, help with the tea, maybe make her less mad at her, she heard shouting. 

It was her mother and Henry. That was peculiar, it happened very rarely, that Henry screamed back. Then she heard the door slam. Her mom walked through the hall fuming. Azra couldn't retreat fast enough so her mother saw her. "Henry left we're not having tea." Azra nodded and went back to her room quickly before her mother got the idea of getting mad at her. 

Well that was something. Henry spend more and more time away. He said it was work but really Azra thought it was something else and so did Angela and most people who knew about it. He couldn't be having an affair, since Henry and Angela weren't married, contrary to popular belief. (The popular belief was whatever Angela decided it should be) So it really wouldn't have been an affair but just a relationship. 

But she would also have expected him to tell her. And he hadn’t told her anything differently from everyone else. Even though he wasn't her father they were very close. They were more like friends or siblings. He had never tried to be like her father. The whole raising her had been left to Angela and about a dozen Nannies. Henry had always been like a big brother to her. He told her everything. Or at least she had always thought so. Maybe he didn't. Best not to speculate she reminded herself. She pretended not to be hurt by it and it almost worked.

She wasn't mad about his leaving though. That meant no tea with whoever Hershel was. No dull small talk, no false politeness. The doorbell rang and she heard her Mother talk downstairs. There were at least three more people. Strange, was this Hershel more than one person? She wasn’t really keen to find out though. 

Shortly after, not five minutes and her window opened. Ella climbed in, flustered and out of breath. "I have news" she said while tumbling into the room. "No tea?" she added. "How’d you know?" Azra asked puzzled.  
"I met Layton on the street, said he'd have tea with y’all" Ella explained  
"Hershel is that Layton fellow? Interesting. You said you had news? We have to be quiet Mother and Layton and a bunch more are downstairs." Ella nodded and sat on Azra's bed.

“Yea so I got attacked by some dude just now” Ella started she rolled her eyes at Azra when she hurried to her. “Calm down I’m fine. He didn’t really do anything. But he was one of the guys on the roof. You know we eavesdropped on, that turned out to be the Gent and some. Yea so this was the other guy. He said we worked for Layton, so I think he’s the feather boa guy. We’re gonna meet him later today. I think we might get some interesting stuff out of him.” She explained excited. Azra frowned at her. 

“Do you think this is a good idea? We don’t know these guys. They might be actually dangerous.” Ella rolled her eyes. “Oh come on this is so cool. We might solve the mystery of the Masked Gentleman. We might be heroes!” She pushed Azra. She knew she wouldn’t be able to resist a good adventure. She didn’t say anything about the whole Randall thing. She wasn’t sure it was really him and she wasn’t going to put Azra under that pressure if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Of course that was the real reason for her to want to meet up with the Gent and the other guy. She wanted to give Azra the option of meeting her father, or at least the possibility. 

Azra didn’t know any of that though obviously, so meeting with a bunch of strangers who on top of that were also terrorising the city and who one of which had just manhandled her girlfriend didn’t sound safe or like a good idea. It was basically a suicide mission. 

But Ella had been right to assume the adventure tempted her.

“I don’t know El.” She said half-heartedly. She wasn’t really putting up a fight here and Ella noticed.

“We started the whole deal. We can just as well take the whole prank one step further. Just think of it. We are probably closest to an answer on this whole business than anyone else.” Ella said. If Azra hadn’t been convinced before now she definitely was. The adventure in her had awoken. She had inherited it from her father perhaps, or second hand from her father through the stories she was told. 

“Okay fine. We’ll do it.” It took all of Azra to contain her excitement. It wasn’t working very well. “What’s the plan?”

Ella filled her in. To Azra’s surprise she barely mentioned the fact that they had indeed been followed. She thought it was so they wouldn’t fight about it again. Really Ella had forgotten about it because she was concerned about the meeting. She didn’t know what would happen if the man was really Azra’s father. And what it would do to her to meet him. 

“Wait there’s going to be another miracle?” interrupted Azra. Ella shrugged. “I suppose they have a copy of the mask.” 

“Makes you think why they didn’t just use that one in the first place.” Azra wondered.

“I don’t know. I guess you could ask the Gent himself later if you wish.” Ella said nonchalant. That would obviously be a bad idea since they should really not know that the mask was gone. Azra pointed that out and Ella said. “Well then don’t, I guess.” 

After planning somewhat they split up again. Ella really needed to go home, it had been a while since she had been home and she didn’t want her mother to worry. Allthough early morning trips weren’t something unusual for her she still wanted to check in and say that she was alight. 

Azra hung around her room a bit but she got bored really quickly. She couldn’t concentrate on anything because of her anticipation for the night. And she couldn’t sleep either, she was way too excited. But it was quite a few hours before the next miracle would happen. 

She waited until she heard Layton and the company left and went downstairs. 

“Where is Henry mother?” She asked and maybe it did sound more like a wail then a question but she was talking to her mother after all, sometimes a child has to wail. Her mother glanced at her and rolled her eyes.

“How am I supposed to know where that useless man is? He left in a rush and didn’t even give an explanation. He ought to care more about our reputation. He hasn’t spent a night here in forever.” Angela answered. She was a little on edge. Azra picked up on it and some deep teenager urge in her told her to pick a bit at that sore spot. 

“Why do you care? It’s not like you’re married or anything.” She said. It hit how it should and put Angela a bit closer to the edge she was already balancing on.

"That is not the point Azra. People think we're married and they'll talk. The last thing I need right now is for people to talk. This Masked menace is enough work already. I really don’t want to have to fix our image because Henry is too busy doing… whatever he does." Angela snapped back. 

“Isn’t Henry old enough to fix his own problem?” Azra pushed a bit more.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But he still acts like a teenager to be honest and since I seem to be the only adult in this house, I need to fix all of your messes. So go make a mess somewhere else.” She said and did a shooing motion in Azra’s direction. Azra started tippling away slowly, following the motion. “What about gran?” She asked accusingly. 

“That women is an elder she doesn’t count. By now she can do about as much as a child, and needs about as much care as well.” Angela said. Azra gasped a bit more than necessary. Angela rolled her eyes and pushed Azra out of the sitting room. “Now leave me be and go annoy someone else. If you see Henry kick his ass for me.” She said and Azra let the urge to annoy her even longer go. 

She roamed the city for a bit. She avoided talking to anyone. There were people here who she had known all her life, who she had been to school with. She really didn't fancy talking to any of them, now that school was over. There was a part of her that was so tired of this city and all the people in it. And that part wanted to get out as soon as humanly possible. She had to go to college soon anyway. 

But there was another part of her that dreaded the idea. Despite all the hiding and the rules and the connotations that came with the city, this part of her really loved the city. She loved the alleyways and the hidden ruins and the tall buildings. She had loved the people, who build the houses just to leave them behind and the people who moved in those houses afterwards. And she loved all those kids who had been awful to her when she had been a kid, the new generation of this city, some of them had come around later. Hell she even loved the tourists. It was her city and her home. She knew every single part of it and she adored them all.

At some point she arrived at the circus at the west side of the town. It came here regularly in the carnival season, or maybe it was always a different circus. But the place where it was, was always the same. Dalston payed for them to be here. He was an old acquaintance, maybe even friend of Henry and her Mother. In her childhood she had spent a lot of time in the various tents that came and went over the years. Henry would take her and more often than not they would run into Dalston there. Dalston, Azra had known that always, also had a first name, but he was one of those people who had always been called by his last name, probably even as a kid. He had almost been like an uncle to her.

Henry and Dalston would sit and talk and Azra would swoon over the acrobats and clowns and magicians and animals, if there were any. She never knew what Henry and Dalston would talk about. To her it was grown up stuff and unbearably boring. It had been a while since she had been to a circus. And it had been a while since she had seen Henry and Dalston sit with each other.

Now she roamed around the Circus again, looking for comfort in old times. Or maybe just a distraction. She found Henry, he was standing there with Dalston, arguing. That seemed to be the only thing Henry did nowadays, with Dalston or with anyone. She hadn’t seen Henry and Dalston talk without fighting for a while. She stepped a little closer, but they didn't notice her.

"I'm telling you. You have to get out of there that woman is crazy and terribly bad for you. I wouldn't be surprised if she was behind the whole Gentleman Mask thing." Dalston said. Henry's face crunched up in anger. He looked very worked up. Even more than when arguing with Angela. 

"Don't you dare say that! She would never." he wanted to say more but Dalston interrupted him. "How are you so sure? You know her better than most. She is mental. And she is hurting you so much." the last sentence was accompanied by a softer and very hurt expression on Dalston’s face. 

"I am not leaving her. We have talked about this before and I have not changed my mind. You know my motivations. This is everything I have." Henry replied not less angry than he was before. Dalston looked mostly like he had been slapped.  
"What about me?" he said. It was quiet and Azra almost missed it.  
"You have everything you always wanted, don't you? Where is the problem? Is your Hotel business not big enough? Are you jealous of my money? Is that what this is about?" Henry accused him. That one was an old one. Something they had thrown at each other over the years. It was never true and always just something to distract from one’s own feelings. 

"You know very well it is not. You know what I meant by it. Stop pushing me away Henry. We both know this is about Angela and Randall, it has always been. And I can't stand it anymore. How can you just sit there while they hurt you over and over again? You have to get away from that women. You have to let go." Dalston pressed. Once again he tried to get closer to Henry but he just pushed him away. It happened all the time. Trying to get through to someone who doesn’t want to be gotten through to, is almost always hopeless. Henry stepped back. 

"How do I know that you're not trying to frame her? How do I know you’re not trying to sabotage me? She is all I have. This is what I choose. I always have. I honestly don't know how far you would go to get back at her. This has to stop right now." with that Henry stormed of. Dalston looked after him, but he didn't follow him. He just looked sad. It was obviously exactly the other way around. He would do almost anything to get through to Henry, to help him, to be with him. Angela was not the real problem here. She didn’t needed to be gotten rid of. It was the ghost that haunted Henry that needed to leave. 

Azra stepped closer. "Sorry for eavesdropping, but y’all were really loud. What was that about?" said Azra. She didn’t bother lying. She didn't like lying to Dalston, he had always found out when she was lying. He turned to look at her.  
"Azra, how nice to see you. It's been a while. Don't mind Henry and me, just some old friend drama, or maybe some old acquaintance drama. Who knows?" Dalston's eyes got sad again. 

"Should I talk to him?" she asked. She didn't really want to force Dalston to talk about their fight. It wasn’t really her place. As interesting as it might have been, if he didn’t tell her she had no right to make him talk about it. 

"No I think it’s best to let him be for now." Dalston replied. He sighed and turned to her, a grin now covering his face. "You want some cotton Candy?" he asked, for old times’ sake mostly but also to distract them. A distraction was what they both really needed right now.  
"There's nothing I'd love more." she replied.

Azra spend some time at the circus and strolled back home for tea or better a snack at 5pm before a long evening awaited her.

Her mother sat all prim and proper in the sitting room, by herself. She drank tea and read some very old book. 

“Whatcha reading?” slurred Azra leaning over her mother’s shoulder. Angela glared at her and put the book away. 

“If you will join me at tea time then please behave like it. Posture, expression and manners, please. You’re acting like a rascal. Sit down and drink.” Angela pointed to the chair across from her and started pouring a cup of tea. Azra sighed. She tried now and again to have a normal relationship with her mother but she was very good at being politely distant, even to her daughter. She somehow managed to be distant even when shouting at her. 

It was probably something to do with the trauma of losing someone very close to you as a young person. Azra didn’t want to imagine how she would feel if she were to loose Ella. So she forgave her mother. It might not make her own childhood better but it may make her future better. At least that what she always told herself. 

“I was called to attend the miracle tonight.” Angela said, her tone a bit unsteady. Sharing things was definitely not a regular thing in this family. Henry never said anything unless directly asked and Angela’s polite distance didn’t leave much space for information exchange. So Azra ate the information up.

“Are you going?” She asked with the tried (and failed) attempt to keep the exited curiosity out of her voice.

“I ought to. Both Henry and I were called. I believe that was what set Henry running of again.” Angela said calmly. It took everything in Azra not to have her mouth fall open. What had happened to her mother that made her talk this much all of the sudden? “It’s only proper to answer to an invitation like this.” 

Azra didn’t know what to say. But she felt so desperate to not stop the flow of words she would have done about anything to keep her mother talking like this. She could almost imagine being part of a normal family. 

“Why d’you think he invited you?” Azra asked keen. Angela gave her a scolding look at the slurring of her words but didn’t mention it. 

“We’re an important family in this city, I believe he has also been contacting Dalston. He seems to want to assemble the big fish of this pond to see his miracles.” Angela made air quotes saying ‘fish’. Azra almost gasped at her mother making such a gesture. “It is perhaps to make himself fell important. Having such influential people attend his event.” 

Azra thought calling it an event was maybe going a bit far. It was a mediocre show at best. What entertainer would end his performance after just one trick after all? Or it was a very long event, she thought, a full month of tricks and games was almost worth selling tickets to. Before she trailed of too far in her thoughts she came back to the conversation quickly.

“So you’ll go?” she said encouraging her mother to keep talking. 

“Yes I suppose. I would rather you stay here though. This man is unpredictable and I don’t want you in the front row of his madness.” Angela replied. Azra would promise her to not go, of course. And of course she would be lying. Both of them knew this. Azra had been there for most of the other miracles and Angela knew that. But never the less they played this pretend game in which Angela was a good, normal mother and Azra was a good, normal daughter.

“Sure I won’t go.” Azra lied. With that their conversation was over. If they didn’t keep talking they could pretend everything was in order. If they just didn’t talk about it their family might not be falling apart after all. They could pretend to have a normal life, not overshadowed by death, with the light of ridiculous hope underneath them, illuminating their life in a spooky way, casting shadows no family should have. 

Azra snuck out of the house when the afternoon turned into evening. At dawn the whole city seemed to assemble at the Gallery Plaza. Locals and tourists alike. They stood on the plaza, sat in cafés, watched from windows and some even from rooftops. The latter would probably have the best and worst experience at the same time, being almost at eye level with the gent they could see him very well, they would also be able to see through the entire ruse. Announcing where and when the next miracle would take place, when your whole performance is based around the very concept that your audience only sees you from below maybe wasn’t the brightest idea the Gent and such could have come up with.

Azra and Ella met up somewhere a bit away from the centre of the crowd. There they could see Layton and his foot folk, Dalston and Angela, the reason they stayed far away from that area. The Gent should count himself lucky. Angela attending an event was something that didn't happen every day. 

When the sun had gone down, almost on the exact second it left the horizon the Gent appeared, although you couldn't see the sun go down from where they stood because of the houses, someone who stood very high up, on the other hand might be able to see the sun leaving, just like the Gent was, or those people seeing the man step from a rooftop onto a wire in the air. Like mentioned before the entire illusion was very destroyed if you could just see him from the right angle. He was wearing the mask. It could have been the real one or it could have been a forgery. It was hard to tell from down where Azra and Ella stood. They would find out later. He seemed to walk through the air greeting the people who came to see his show. Then he snapped his fingers and two people lifted into the air. 

Ella leaned over to Azra "What a drama queen." she whispered. Azra smiled at that. She tried not to but she really couldn’t help it. Ella had that effect on her. “Shush this is supposed to be serious. He is performing a miracle.” She whispered back amusement making her argument weaker than it already was. 

Azra knew the miracles were a hoax, of course they were. But she wasn't too keen on finding out how he did it. It was like a magic trick. It was intriguing to find out how it was done but after you did find out it was terribly dull. The horses were just horses and the statues just statues. That was clear. The rest was probably equally dull. 

And this wasn't any different. It wasn't as shocking as everyone made it out to be. People lifted up left and right. Conveniently they all got lifted around their waist at a similar angle. It was awfully obvious, really. Even more for people higher up who could very much see the little machines that pulled the people up in the air. It was a rather dull performance from up here, Azra was right about that.

When the crowds had scattered in panic and the people had disappeared, some of them from boredom or disappointment of now having been ripped from the illusion of the miracles, most of them out of fear of being targeted by the miracle, the Gent kept talking. Something about a warning, something about miracles, there would be one at the pumpkin park tomorrow. Some people, mostly ones that wanted to make money of the park, called it a horror park. But it really wasn’t horrible. It was a bit spooky at best. 

He then said something about the Mask of Order. How it should be given to him and the whole shebang would be over. That was interesting. So they were after the masks. Maybe even the Azran legend that was contained in this city. It would most certainly explain why the feather boa guy was so good at navigating the ruins.

Then he left. Everyone stood dumbfound for a moment. Then a whole armada of police men came running, circling the last remaining people. Dalston, Layton, his minions, Angela and some people neither of the two knew. Someone shouted orders and then Dalston was taken into custody. He turned to Henry, who had appeared behind the policemen and they exchanged some words. Then Dalston was brought away and Henry and Angela left.

"Whoa, what was that about?" Ella said. They watched as the plaza emptied completely.  
"I don't know. I overheard Henry and Dalston having a fight earlier. Maybe that's what this is about. It was strange. They fought about my mother and Randall. Dalston really wanted to convince Henry to leave her I think. It's not like they're really married but, you know. Stop living with her." Azra stared into nothingness while Ella looked at her. "Okay this might sound like I'm taking it out of thin air but do Dalston and Henry, you know, have something?" Ella asked carefully. Azra looked at her taking a moment to focus back to reality. "How do you mean?"

"You know." she struggled to find a more subtle way to put it. She failed and just said it unfiltered "Is Henry gay? For Dalston? I always wondered how he was alone for all these years. I mean your mom did it but she's also a lunatic, no offense. But Dalston and Henry always seemed awfully close, even when we were kids and they'd take us to the circus. And fighting about leaving Angela does sound like a fight a couple would have." Azra looked a bit dumbfound. She had never really given that whole concept any thoughts.

“Now that you say it. The conversation was a bit odd for business opponents or even for friends.” Azra said. She had always avoided thinking about it. The whole thinking about someone you’ve known all your life fucking someone else. It was uncomfortable at best and awkward as hell most of the time. And Henry never really talked about anything lie that so she wouldn’t know. But giving it more thought it did seem plausible.

“I mean I get why he never brought it up. My mother didn’t really react super well to my coming out. I doubt that it would be any different with him” She said. Ella shrugged at that. 

“It’s not like he says much at all, but you’d think he would mention something as important to him as having an affair with their childhood friend and business opponent. But Angela would probably lose it even if it wasn’t with a guy, you know the whole perfect family bullshit.” Azra spun her thoughts out loud. They had gotten up and now walked to the closest opening to the ruins. 

In here you could easily get lost if you didn’t know where to go. There was one big tunnel dug straight to the centre room, the one with the two mask pillars, but if you knew your way around the ruins you could get there faster and more elegant. 

The halls were full of booby-traps and puzzles and stuff but they were also full of secret tunnels and hidden passageways. It was a real maze that could trap someone for days if not months or even until they starved, if the traps didn’t get them faster. 

It had really been somewhat of a suicide mission that Azra’s father and his friend had gone into the ruins all alone. Mind you without proper equipment and no clue what to expect whatsoever. Even Ella and Azra, who knew the ruins like no other were always carrying a map and some gear when going down there. 

In the Room of the two masks they were already awaited by the Gent and the feather boa guy. Both were not in costume. The Gent was wearing his wig though, the brown one covering up red hair.

“So we meet again.” Said the feather boa guy. He smiled a very better-than-thou-smile. 

“No costumes today?” Azra asked. “I liked the feather boa.” The addressed man’s smile turned cold, very much not amused. From where they stood Azra could see that at least the bag was still exactly where she put it. So they probably hadn’t found the mask.

“No need for disguises. You know us now, why hide? This way we’re less likely to be noticed by people we have no business with.” He answered. “Now enough of the politeness. We’re not here to make friends after all.”

“I wouldn’t be too fast on that” Ella stepped in “Layton doesn't know were here and he doesn't need to find out. We are interested in hearing your side of the story. And who knows, if your arguments are compelling enough we might help you.” The men looked surprised at that. Ella had technically not lied in the offer. Layton did not know they were here and who knows what would happen if Azra found out who the Gent really was.

Azra took over “Convince us and we could be your game changer.” They had practiced this proposal somewhat. Really this was a total shot in the dark. These guys had some hidden intentions as well. So Ella and Azra were going to take what they could get. Ella really only wanted to find out if the Gent was really Azra’s father without letting Azra know she was doing it in case he wasn’t. It was quite a difficult situation to be in. 

“So what are you after? Money? That can’t be it you must be blasting tons of it on those miracles. So what is it then?” Ella gave them a point to start from. Getting them to talk was really the only starting point.

“Money is no concern of ours. What I am after is justice.” The Gent started saying immediately. Getting him to talk would seemingly be easier than Ella had thought. “The Ledors, you might have heard of them, have taken everything from me. Henry used to be my friend but he betrayed me, took my fortune, my life and my love and build this forsaken city on the ruins of my life. They deserve to suffer for that.” With that he had just right out said that he indeed was Randel Ascot. 

The feather boa guy looked extremely done with Randall. “Yea tell them the whole story, why don’t you” He muttered. He regretted starting this whole thing a lot by now. He had never had a plan go so out of control. Sure the whole Phantom of what-was-that-town-called-again had been a bit of a disaster, but this was a catastrophe. A lost mask an idiot puppet and a whole bunch of nosy people made the whole thing very much more difficult. Yea he did hope for Layton to show up here, to solve the mask riddle for him but he hadn’t expected him to bring this many people, who seemed even better at Layton’s job than he was. 

Meanwhile Azra was having a bit of a breakdown. This maniac had just basically told her that Henry had destroyed his life in a way that could only possibly mean he was indeed Randall Ascot. Which meant that he was her father. She barely managed to croak: “Are you Randall Ascot?” 

Descole put his face in his hands. This girl just had figured out the identity of the Gentleman within a minute. They were so absolutely fucked. 

Ella eyed her best friend to see if she was keeping it together. She was, for now. She was waiting for her life to change.

Randall looked at her. “You seem to be a clever young lady.” He said falling in Ella’s eyes even further down than he had already been. It must really be the generation with calling young women ‘young lady’. “I am indeed Randall Ascot.” 

Descole looked more and more horrified at the willingness of Randall to just give anything away if one just asked. By now he looked like he was about to give up everything or maybe just burst into tears. He gestured helplessly around him, looked at Randall.

In the meantime Azra was having a similarly hard time but for a very different reason. A lot of emotion passed over Azra’s face. She was having trouble not braking out into tears. Ella recognised that, or at least her destress and stepped in to get the attention away from her.

“We have heard a lot about you. The infamous explorer that got lost during his biggest adventure. How did you survive?” 

Randall seemed to like the attention and the compliments send his way. Descole had just given up. This was a lost cause anyways, might as well not stop the idiot from laying his life story out in front of these children.

“I fell into a river and was rescued by people in a village. I had lost my memory until my friend Descole” He gestured to the Feather boa guy, who cringed at the word friend and at the fact that yes he seemed to still be very much involved in this shit show of a story. “contacted me and refreshed my memory. It came all back then.”

Azra had barely listened to him and interrupted him rudely by blurting. “We’ll do it. We’ll work with you!” All heads turned to her. Ella looked a bit puzzled but she wasn’t about to stop her. This was her father and if it was her decision to get to know him like this, she was on board.

Descole gained some of his hope for the plan back. He didn’t know what had brought forth this development but he wasn’t about to question it. 

“So you’ll help us?” He asked carefully. Ella shrugged. “Seems like it. We have quite a good insight into the city and such. We could be of use. But maybe we should meet somewhere a bit cosier next time.” 

She glanced at Azra who was still very much close to losing it. “Well gentlemen, this was incredibly interesting but it’s already way past our bedtime, we should really get going. We’ll visit you tomorrow at your hotel room.” She tipped her imaginary hat and took Azra by her arm leading her out of the room. 

The two men watched them disappear into the ruins. 

Azra and Ella walked in silence for a bit. After a reasonable amount of time Ella broke it. “So your father, huh?” Azra looked at her but Ella watched the pavement below. Azra made an indistinguishable sound. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Ella tried again lifting her gaze from the street to Azra. Their eyes met. “Did you know?” Azra asked. This was exactly why Ella had not wanted to look at her. She sighed. “Not for long. The feather boa guy said something that suggested it. I wasn’t sure.” 

“You didn’t tell me.” Azra said her eyes staring in the dark in front of them. 

“I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to stress you out over nothing.” Ella replied. She looked straight ahead too. 

“You should have told me. I deserve to know that my father is the one terrorizing my city.” Azra’s voice rose with every word. She was almost shouting.

“And what if I had been wrong? What if it hadn’t been him and I had given you hope for no reason?” Ella said trying to keep her voice calm. It was not working as well as she wanted it to.

“What so it was better to let me walk into there, completely clueless? I could have started crying or shouting. You just let me walk into there, knowing very well that the man who left me and my mom 18 years ago was in there and that he was the one terrorizing my home. The man I thought was dead for a better part of my life. And you didn’t even warn me.” At some point tears had joined the shouted words coming from Azra. They had stopped walking. Ella looked over Azra’s shoulder, not standing to look at Azra.

“Okay look, I’m sorry. But would you have even believed me? And would you have come with me if you would have known?” 

“Who knows who cares it would have been better than risking me braking down in front of two strangers.” 

“Well, but you didn’t. Instead you told them we’d work with them. Even though you hate to see your father so much you still signed us up to work with them.” Ella said. She glared at Azra.

“He is my father.” Azra’s voice had gone very quiet. Her face turned away from Ella. “I have never had the chance to meet him. I at least want a fair chance to get an impression on him myself. You don’t have to come, if you don’t want to.” 

Ella sighed. She felt bad for shouting at Azra. She was going through a lot after all. “I’m sorry of course I’ll help you.” She stepped closer to Azra, waiting for a reaction, a pulling away or moving in. Azra lifted her face, still wet with tears. She looked at Ella’s soft expression and a new stream of tears broke free. She moved in and Ella wrapped her arms around her. Azra laid her head on Ella’s shoulder and let the sorrow stream out of her one tear at a time. Ella let her cry, rubbing small circles on her back and now and then whispering to her, reassuring her. They stood in the shadows of the nightly city for a long time. 

When Azra lifted her head she was feeling incredibly tired. They continued their walk through the city. On the corner where their ways split Ella asked if Azra wanted company. But she needed to sleep and then think and maybe sleep some more. She declined and promised to meet up with Ella the next morning. After all they had a father and a puppet master to visit.

Azra didn’t sleep well that night. She slept. But too little and terribly. She was awake at dawn and just couldn’t go back to bed. Instead she went downstairs and joined her mother at breakfast. Henry was not there, he was probably already out and about, who knows where. 

“You accompanying me? What an honour.” Angela said, when her daughter slumped into her chair. She made some vague noise and started eating a slice of bread with nothing on it.

“You look tired. When did you last sleep?” Angela commented and handed her some scrambled eggs, which she accepted thankfully. She did however not answer the question. She didn’t know when the last time had been that she had gotten a full night sleep. It had been a while. She shrugged and stuffed her face with breakfast.

Angela gave her a look that said to eat properly and slower. But she didn’t mention it “Is the masked man worrying you? I know how you love this city. It must be hard seeing it being attacked like this.” This made Azra look up. Of course she knew her mother knew her, but this was such a subtle detail, one that few people would notice. It shocked her a bit how her mother saw through her façade of distance to everything. She always thought it had been a rather good one. 

“You could say like that.” She murmured, and then out of whatever depth in her mind and out of confidence she didn’t know she had she asked: “Mom, do you love my father?” 

Her mother looked quite taken aback by that. The mom thing was new, or rather old. It had changed at some point, when Azra had decided not to go to her father’s grave anymore. And the question was quite peculiar. They hadn’t talked about Randall in a long time. Usually she would have brushed the question off and said something vague. But something, maybe the same thing that moved Azra, made her say: “I used to. I loved him very much when he left. Maybe I still love him, who knows” She paused. Azra didn’t say anything. She just looked at her and hoped she’d keep talking. 

“I think I love him, like I love my brother, or how you love your grandpa. Loving people who are dead is hard. You can never truly let them go because there is nowhere for them to go, but if you don’t let them go at least a little, get some distance, you will end up like Henry. He has never stopped loving Randall. He has loved him the same way from the moment he got that Robot toy from him when they were kids. It has been eating him alive since then.” 

“Do you believe Randall is dead?” Azra said, she couldn’t help herself. She had always thought this was her mother’s core belief, her strongest motivation.

“I don’t know. But it’s been 18 years. If he didn’t come back by now I don’t think he ever will.” She said. There was a sadness in her eyes that went back years and laid deep in her soul. “Henry has never stopped believing obviously, but I think I stopped believing he’d come back when he left his home for the tunnels and that treasure. I think I might have never believed in his return in the first place.” Her gaze was lost in time. Focused on two boys leaving in the early morning, not looking back to see the girl had already left them. Only a lonely boy believing in everything that kid getting smaller in the distance stood for.

“But you built this city, all the work and the image, the fake marriage. What was that for if not for Randall?” Azra asked confused.

Her mother looked at her face. Suddenly back in the present. She looked almost confused at that question. “For you. I wanted to give you all the opportunities I never had. If I had been a single teenage mom they would have torn me apart. I build this city and this life so that you could choose your own path, so that you would have the choice.” Her gaze slipped away from Azra back into a distant past long gone. “And I guess for Henry. He approached me, I was willing to marry Dalston. He was rich and a nice man, even if Randall didn’t like him, but Henry came to me and asked me to wait with him, wait for Randall to return and I saw the desperation in his eyes. He needed this, needed me. When I told him about you, he asked me to fake a marriage so that you would have a father, at least in the public eye.” She shrugged. She hadn’t talked about all of that in such a long time. And definitely never with Azra. Sometimes it was hard for her to remember that the marriage wasn’t real. She had gotten so used to seeing other couples who were so much like them that she had forgotten that partners should be together for love and not for obligation. 

They were silent for a moment after that. Finally Azra said what was on her mind. “If you wanted my life to be how I wished it to be, why do you hate Ella?”

A different expression of sadness settle on Angela’s face. Something like regret and disappointed mixed with worry and care. “I don’t hate Ella. But you’re right, at times I was very bad at keeping my actual goal in focus. I got so occupied with keeping your grades up and preserving our image to give you the chance to leave to wherever you wanted that I forgot what was really important: Your happiness. I wanted you to have the chance to leave so bad that I didn’t think about the option that you might want to stay. I ask for your forgiveness for that. And I really don’t hate Ella, she is a nice girl and she really likes you.”

Azra smiled. “Thanks mom.” She said, and she meant for everything, the life she had, for sharing her thoughts with her and for accepting her girlfriend.

A thought came to her mind then. “So was it not about me being a lesbian?” 

“Oh no, it was about her being a connection to this city, something that kept you here. I don’t care that you’re not straight.” She answered nonchalant. 

“So Henry didn’t have to keep it from you after all.” She said, more to herself. As soon as she said it she regretted it. It really wasn’t her business to out Henry. But her mother surprised her.

“Oh you mean about Dalston and Henry. I know about that. They think they are very subtle but really they aren’t. They’ve been on and off for the last 18 years, if not longer. It won’t work though. Not as long as Henry still loves Randall and without a miracle I don’t think that will happen any time soon.” She said. Azra smiled at the miracle part. Yea a miracle from a man in a mask might just be what they could get. “I do think Henry might have gone a bit far this time, with getting Dalston arrested. I do wonder what the man said that got Henry so upset.” Angela added.

“What was that whole thing about anyway?” asked Ara. She hadn’t been close enough to hear their conversation yesterday. 

“Henry got Dalston arrested for being behind the whole Masked Gentleman thing.” Angela sighed. “It’s completely ridiculous and Henry knows that. I tried talking to him but he won’t hear it. I don’t doubt that the miracle tonight will be happening even with Dalston locked up. I guess than they’ll have to let him go again. Poor man, the things he must go through.”

They kept up the conversation after that. It was the most honest conversation they had had in a long time, maybe ever. It was nice talking like they were normal people. Like they didn’t have tons of issues. But wasn’t that a normal thing, too? 

After the breakfast and to a more reasonable time of day Azra left the house. She went to Ella’s place. She nocked and was greeted by her mother. She worked from home most of the time. She had a part time job at a restaurant downtown but that shift started later in the day. The time she spend home she was writing. She was a journalist for an independent newspaper. It was local and the stories she wrote were mostly recipes or household tips. She could do that from home without doing too much research outside. The stories were mostly bullshit anyway. But it was a job.

“Azra how nice to see you. You’re up early. I don’t think Ella is up yet. Come in I’ll call her.” She said waving Azra in. 

She stepped into the small apartment. Ella’s mother went down the dark corridor to Ella’s room. Azra trailed down the corridor to the kitchen. She had spent a lot of time here. But Ella’s mother still treated her like a guest. She wasn’t sure why but it was fine. She respected the line set by her and didn’t get too comfortable whenever Ella’s mother was around. 

Ella came walking in to the room. She was still wearing her pyjamas. It was less pyjamas and more old clothes she slept in. It consisted of a baggy T-shirt and some gym shorts. It looked very cute. She was rubbing her face and had been very obviously still sleeping. 

“Morning.” She murmured. “Why you up so early?” She moved past her to the coffee machine. 

“I just woke up and couldn’t sleep anymore. The early bird and stuff.” Azra answered cheery. Ella looked sceptical at that and tended to making something to eat. 

“You want anything” She gestured vaguely to the food she just got out of the fridge. 

“No thanks I already had breakfast.” Answered Azra. She was rather determent to keep her good mood up and not let Ella’s morning grumpiness get her down. “I’d take a coffee though.” She added. 

Ella stuffed some bread with jam into her mouth. She mad a noise at Azra’s request and waited for the coffee machine to finish its job. 

With some food in her belly and a cup of steaming coffee in her hands she was way more approachable. She stretched and settled against the kitchen counter.

“So, you ready to face your father?” She asked keeping her voice down. Her mother might not be in the room but the flat was small and walls have ears.

Azra nodded. “I think so. I don’t really know what the plan or the goal is but I can do it.” 

Ella glanced at her over the rim of her cup. “We don’t have a plan. You nosedived into unknown waters. We’ll have to figure it out as we go.” Azra looked down and rubbed her neck. 

“Hey no hard feelings here. A little adventure never hurt anyone.” Ella added to comfort Azra a bit. She did see the irony in her statement but hoped it would just go uncommented. Azra smiled up at her and mouthed a thank you.

They got on their way once Ella had gotten dressed and a bit freshened up. The streets were already busy with tourists. They made their way to the subway. It wasn’t the only way to the hotel but the fastest. 

They knocked on the door the gent had gone in the day before. The door opened. Descole stood before them.

“Oh you actually came. I didn’t think you’d show up.” He opened the door properly and stepped out of their way. “Come in I guess.” He led the way into the luxurious hotel room. The view over the city was extraordinary. He dropped down into one of the armchairs. On the table in front of him laid a lot of maps and books and other papers. 

“So, you actually want to help us?” He asked. Azra looked round the room. It had two beds, both used. There were a bunch of suitcases and on a rack in the corner hung the gentleman’s costume. Randall was nowhere to be seen. 

“Hmm” humed Ella. She was investigating the table and the stuff on it. “What’s all this?” She asked. 

“Maps, obviously. And some archaeology stuff, you wouldn’t understand it.” Ella ignored his down-talking and picked up a map of the ruins. It was old and most definitely outdated. It had several floors missing and a terrible scaling system. “This map is shit, where did you get that, a souvenir store?” She put it down and picked up some papers about other archaeological excavations that were connected to the Azran Culture. Descole picked up the map she had just insulted. 

“What do you mean it’s shit? It’s the map I navigate those caves with. It’s perfectly good.” Ella glanced at him. He looked genuinely upset with what she had said. 

“Well I guess you can be glad you haven’t died yet. I’ll bring you a better map when I come back.” She thought if they were going to help they might as well do it properly.

“Is Randall not here?” Asked Azra who was still wondering around the room? 

“No he’s out getting groceries. That’s how you found him the first time, remember?” Descole answered. The girls both gave him a sceptical look. 

“If that’s how he got found one time why is he doing it again? Wouldn’t it be safer if you went around since you don’t have a history with the place and no one knows your voice?” Asked Azra. He glared at her. 

“If you two are only here to critique me and my methods of doing things than I really don’t need your help.” He said in a sulky tone. He even pouted a bit. 

“Fine we’ll stop telling you how to do your job. Is this your job, how do you earn enough money to even get by, let alone burn it on unnecessary magic tricks?” Ella had sat down on the floor and went through the papers more methodically. She looked up at him questioning. 

“I have another job don’t worry about my finances. I’m doing this in my free time.” He defended himself. Azra walked over to the table and the chairs.

“What so this is your hobby? Terrorizing people and looking for ancient ruins?” 

“Didn’t you just say you’d stop critiquing me?” He said. He really wasn’t having a good time. In this room but also in this city. Randall was an idiot and a pain in the ass, Layton had set these very rude young women on him and he wasn’t even closer to figuring out the secret of the masks.

“What are you here for anyway? Surely you don’t just sponser some weird people who want to have some ridiculous and expensive revenge on their exes.” Asked Ella.

Just to get them to stop bullying him he told them. “I am looking for the mask of order. I am working on completing the Azran Legacy. The Ruins and the Masks are an important key elements.” He said. He was very proud to be working on such important advances for humanity. 

“Archaeologist, are you?” Asked Ella. He nodded and his posture got just a bit better and his demeanour seemed to brighten a bit. 

“What’s going to happen if the Azran Legacy is complete?” Asked Azra. She had read a lot about the Azran and their culture and this was definitely not the first time she heard of completing it. But it had never made sense to her to look at ancient societies in other aspects then understanding them, learning how they influence our society and what we could learn from them. Why alter such old buildings to complete them when they obviously weren’t like that when the society was still thriving. 

“We will get all of their knowledge and power. They were a very advanced and highly developed civilization. Their knowledge might advance our society in ways we can’t imagine.” 

The girls were sceptical. Power reveals after all. And gaining a lot of power in a short time didn’t work out well for a lot of people. So if you give all of humanity a lot of power from one day to the next it sounds like a perfect recipe for disaster. Even if they wanted to believe in the good in people and such, it sometimes wasn’t easy. And as soon as power comes into play the negative voices tend to be louder. So actually this did not sound like such a good thing after all. 

Azra frowned and Ella said. “I’m not sure that’s such a good thing to be honest.” 

Descole looked taken aback by that. “What do you mean not a good idea? This could solve all our problems!” 

Ella did a half shrug. “Or it could create more problems and even give us the nudge over the edge right into Armageddon or something.” 

“I agree with great power comes great responsibility and frankly that can go super wrong super fast. In the wrong hands this can really fuck us all up in like minutes or something. Because as I know Civilizations, they tend to not just build cool buildings and do medicine but also have weapons and such. And a very advanced civilization means crazy weapons.” Azra agreed. 

“Well this is why I want to be the one to find it so that it doesn’t get in the wrong hands.” Said Descole. Ella raised an eyebrow at him and Azra tried her best to suppress a smile.

“And you think your hands are the right hands?” Ella asked. 

“No offence dude, but I really don’t think a guy who has been kidnapping people and attacking cities to reach his goals should be classified as the right hands.” Said Azra. 

Descole was trying his absolute best to come up with something to justify his actions but it was admittedly hard. So like everyone who doesn’t want to stand in a bad light he made someone else’s light look even worse.

“Well you should see who I am trying to out chase with this, so they don’t get the power, because they are so much worse.” He said. 

Azra looked unconvinced. “And they are?” 

“Targent. They are a company of Archaeologists who work on the legacy. They kidnap and murder people and blackmail their employees so they’ll work with them.” He explained. 

Ella shrugged “That’s capitalism for you. But really dude aren’t you kind of contributing to the whole thing if you keep solving the riddles for them?” 

Descole shook his head. “No you’re just too young to understand that. I have history with them they will go through any trouble to get to where they want to be. And I need to be faster than them.” 

Azra nodded knowing. Ella and her shared a look and said in unison “So this is about…” Ella went on to say “Who has the bigger dick.” While Azra said “Revenge.” Azra looked at her girlfriend and mothed ‘what the fuck’. She just shrugged and grinned. Descole looked very appalled. 

Luckily for them all, Randall opened the door at that moment. He looked at the girls and reacted exactly like Descole had. “You are here. I didn’t think you’d actually come.” 

Azra visually tensed when he came closer to sit on an armchair across from Descole. He pulled a can of beer out of the grocery bag he put next to him. Descole gave him a slightly disgusted look. It was subtle and Ella saw it only because she didn’t really want to look at the guy and so focused her attention elsewhere. 

“So what were you talking about?” He asked after a sip. Descole cleared his throat and sat a bit straighter, which was honestly hard in the soft chair he was sitting in.

“The Azran Legacy.” He said and compromised their argument down to its very bare minimum. 

“Ah so the mask?” Asked Randall. “The mask of chaos is a very interesting artefact. It fits into the room where we met. It actually has a map of the ruins engraved into it. That’s how I navigated on my first trip into them. I was the first to find it and to figure out just what the signs meant.” He said proudly. He looked very happy to talk about the mask at last. Azra hung on every word he said. She had heard about him and about his adventures and all but to actually listen to him talk about the things she was so passionate about was so much better. 

“You actually found it?” She said. Before Ella could make a shitty comment about how no wonder he failed if he used such an unreliable map. And if the mask they had here was based on that too then it was a miracle that they hadn’t died earlier. She was quite passionate about maps and safety in exciting situations such as in old caves. She dropped it though because Azra was so happy. She had rarely seen her so hopefully excited about something, she really did not want to ruin that with her cynicism. 

“I did all by myself. I made a whole wall for figuring out what it meant.” Ella had found that wall one day. She had been sneaking around the hotel. She had found it in a bureau where it really didn’t seem to fit in. The bureau was Henry’s, she found out later. She had thought it was absolutely crazy but when she’d shown Azra she had been exited out of her mind. It ran in the family it seems. They had thought it was something that steamed out of Henry’s obsession with Randall. They hadn’t been completely wrong apparently. Just another obsessive holding on to Randall thing by Henry. There was probably nothing that belonged to Randall he hadn’t kept.

“Did you figure it out by yourself too?” she asked. “I’ve seen it before it is quite the puzzle.” Azra really needed to look out that she didn’t slip up and gave herself away. But Randall seemed to be altogether far too distracted by finding someone to brag to, to realise if she should say something strange.

“I did. It took me about half a year but I figure it out. And the map worked really well.” Ella had a hard time suppressing a huff when he said that. 

“Wow.” Azra’s eyes practically sparkled while looking at him. “How was it going into the ruins all on your own, knowing that nobody had been there for thousands of years?” 

He seemed to get prouder by the second. “It was exciting. I’m quite the adventurer and I had to lead my friend, you know Layton, through it. He was such a coward and I had to keep convincing him to keep going.” He said with a smug expression. 

Ella rolled her eyes at that. Coming from someone who fell into a hole because he didn’t know the trap that was there, it was a little over confident she found. She saw that Descole rolled his eyes too. She grinned and leaned over to him. 

“Well while these two nerds talk each other’s ear off why don’t you fill me in on what the plans are?” She suggested while Azra and Randall bonded behind them. 

Descole looked a bit sceptical but then gave in. “Fine we plan another miracle tonight at the pumpkin park.” He said. “I don’t want to give away too much but we will get a spy into the ranks of Layton.” 

Ella frowned. “A spy, what for?” She asked. Descole smiled a knowing smile.  
“To get them to bring us the mask of order. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.” 

“Yea. The opposite mask to the chaos mask. He mentioned it.” She gestured to Randall. “What makes you think Layton knows where it is?” 

“Layton knows more than you think and more than he lets his minions know. If anyone knows where it is, it’s him.” He relied.

“Why don’t you look for it?” She asked. He pressed his lips together. She seemed to be about as good at hitting sore spots with him as Azra was. 

“I’ve tried to be faster than Layton often enough. Believe me it’s easier to let him do the work for you.” He looked tired saying that. 

“And how do you plan on getting him to give you the mask?” She asked. 

“That really doesn’t have to be any of your concern. No offence but I don’t trust you yet. You could still play for Layton.” He looked down on her. Not only physically, she was sitting on the floor after all, but also figuratively. He really looked down at her. He didn’t trust her. No wonder, she wouldn’t trust herself either. They didn’t know each other after all. And Ella and Azra really didn’t trust him either. 

She shrugged. “Fair point. Keep your secrets.” She looked over to Azra and Randall who were still deep in conversation. “Should we attend the miracle or rather stay out of it?” She asked turning back to Descole. His eyes were watching her like a hungry animal. She made a mental note not to underestimate him. 

“Maybe better don’t if it’s arrangeable with Layton. It’s a miracle only for the small circle.” He said. If he only knew they totally belonged to the small circle. At least Azra did. Ella did more by association. 

They spend the next few hours in the hotel room. Azra spend a lot of time bonding with her father. They talked and talked about the Azran Civilization and the ruins and archaeology. Randall even told her some things about where he had been over the last years. He told her of the wide fields he worked on and the nice people that took him in and that were like his family now. She took in every detail. She had not thought she would react like this when seeing her father for the first time. She thought she had finished with him. But repressed feelings just aren’t gone, they are always luring just under the surface waiting to come back. And she had definitely not expected to like the man that had left her mother this much. He as much better than the stories put him out to be. And she was so similar to him. She noticed that over and over again. She had a hard time not letting anything suspicious slip. 

Ella had looked at all of the documents in the meantime. There were some interesting articles and some terrible maps. The books about the Azra were interesting, mostly because they told her a lot about the scientists who worked towards discovering the secrets the culture had to give and a lot about Descole for using them for reference material.

After a long time Azra looked at her wristwatch. They had totally lost track of time. 

“We need to leave. We still have… stuff to do.” She said. She had totally forgotten that Layton was supposed to visit them today. She could only hope that she wasn’t too late. Mostly for her own health’s sake. She stood up rapidly and practically dragged Ella behind her. 

“Erm, bye. See you.” Ella could say before they had left the room and were storming through the halls. 

They took way less time than they usually did, mostly because Azra ran the entire time. Even in the tube she couldn’t sit still. Ella felt like reminding her that the train wouldn’t drive any faster if she kept checking her watch and moved constantly. She didn’t. It didn’t seem like it would do anyone any good. 

To Azra’s luck Layton had not been there. Her mother was still angry with her but she wasn’t furious. She was fine. 

Layton came about half an hour later. Azra had had enough time to clean herself up and get into something a bit more formal. Something the daughter of the richest couple in the town would wear. Even if their life was kind of a lie. But really which rich family’s life wasn’t somewhat of a lie. 

When Azra arrived downstairs Layton and Henry already sat in the sitting room. He had brought his little team.

Layton was just talking about the horse racecourse when she stepped into the room.

“Azra how nice of you to join us. This is my old friend Hershel Layton and his friends.” Henry gestured for her to step closer. “Hershel, meet my daughter, Azra.” He said to Layton. 

Azra smiled the expected humble daughter smile at him while he stood up to greet her. He couldn’t be that good of a friend if Henry lied to him. He usually just avoided introducing Azra to people. But this guy he had just blatantly lied to. 

“What a pleasure to meet you. These are Luke and Emmy my assistants. I didn’t know you had a daughter.” Said Layton with the last thing addressed to Henry. Henry only nodded. Lying twice overstepped it apparently.

“I have heard a lot about you.” Azra said stepping in for Henry. “You’re a little bit of a celebrity in the archaeology community.” 

Layton looked a bit surprised at that. “You found the lost Azran garden. I’m a bit of an archaeology enthusiast myself. And you also seemed to have a hand in the discovery of the Island of Ambrosia. How exciting it must have been. And now you’re knee deep in another adventure. Do you do that often?” she asked. Henry glanced at her a bit concerned and a bit curious, he didn’t have it in him to glare at her for being kind of rude to the man. He didn’t have it in him to be angry at most people. There were some exceptions. Dalston, Angela at times but Azra had never belonged to those exceptions.

“You really seem quite well informed on the whole situation. It is wonderful to meet a young lady who is interested in the history of our planet.” He said not even mentioning the adventures. The child cut in “Indeed he discovered both the garden and the island I was there with him on both occasions. I’m his apprentice!” He bragged. He still seemed a bit young to run around on dangerous adventures like this, but she wasn’t going to mention it, she didn’t want to upset him. He seemed so eager. And she wasn’t responsible for him so it wasn’t her business to decide what was too dangerous for a child.

“Really? And do you know what was behind the attacks on the town?” she said, maybe he was eager enough to spill all of the info she needed. She was right, he was.  
“I do, it was this villain, Descole is his name, and he also kidnapped the opera in the second case.” He said proudly. The woman nudged him, probably to make him stop talking. Very interesting indeed, she thought. She felt only the slightest bit guilty to have exploited his excitement for her purposes. So they were well informed on Descole. Maybe that information could be useful later. The Professor seemed more unfazed by the child’s bragging. He just sipped his tea. 

“How peculiar indeed, do you suspect him behind this too, you know with the mask and all that.” She said to the Professor. He smiled lightly “I don’t know yet, we’re still investigating this. That’s actually why we’re here today. We just came from the racehorse tracks and one of the wagons was out for repairs on the day of the statue wonder. With your signature Henry.” he picked up the conversation where Azra had interrupted them.

“That is indeed concerning.” Said Henry. He was visually nervous, but he almost always was, sometimes he was just better at hiding it than now. 

“Besides that, we have reason to think you were involved in yesterday’s floating miracle.” Layton continued, he was now just straight up accusing Henry. Azra found this interesting and honestly a little amusing. It took a lot from her not to start laughing and keep her mouth from hanging open. The guys had quite the nerve accusing someone this head on in their own house. What would Henry do about this? He didn’t do well when he was cornered. Azra leaned back and watched the situation unfold before her.

“That is ludicrous!” Henry answered.

The Professor started to explain the miracles to Henry and the rest of them. When he said that the Gent had walked on a wire over the city and hadn’t actually levitated, Azra had almost said “Yea no shit Sherlock” but she could stop herself in the last second and instead smirked to herself. During the whole thing Henry did his best to defend himself. He wasn’t very convincing on his best days and this was definitely not one of them.

It was maybe a bit mean of her to leave Henry alone in this situation but it was so amusing. She ignored the helpless glances he send her and the sting of guilt whenever he did. 

The more arguments Layton brought forward the angrier Henry got. At last Henry screamed at him how he dedicated his life to finding Randall and then told them to leave. He stormed out of the room to his study and Layton stood in the room a bit lost. Azra did her best not to smile but it didn’t work as well as she would have wanted it to. 

“Well gentlemen and woman what a nice conversation. I hope to be able to greet you here again soon.” She teased them gesturing them towards the exit. She guided them to the door. 

“I am sorry if I offended Henry with what I said. Would you tell him my apologies?” He said. She didn’t believe he hadn’t known the impact of his words before saying them. He didn’t seem like the guy to unintentional put his foot in his mouth. He had known he had been provoking Henry. He just hadn’t expected how fucked up and emotionally repressed this family was and now he tried to back paddle. What a coward she thought. She smiled at him and nodded.

Before the Professor left she asked him “Do you really think he is behind this?” She avoided calling Henry by name or father, the first would have been suspicious and the latter would have felt weird and would have been a lie. And while Henry seemed to be fine lying to Layton she didn’t feel too good about it. He looked at her, searching seeming to look for something in her face. “I hope he isn’t. But you can’t be too careful. I do think he might be hiding something.” He replied. Still searching in her face.

“Well if he does I’m interested to find out what it is.” She replied smiling. She tried to keep it professional or at least sweet but it probably came out amused and curious. “Have a good evening Sir.” She said and closed the door behind him. That man had some nerve. She found it quite entertaining. 

Once he had left she popped her head in Henry’s room. “He says sorry or something.” She said without waiting for an answer. She tried running upstairs without having to talk to Angela. But she ran into her anyway. 

“What was Henry so upset about?” she asked Azra. 

“Layton accused him of being behind the miracles.” She explained. “Where were you anyway?” She squinted at her mother. 

“A good wife knows when she is wanted and when she isn’t. And I already met with Hershel. It was good of you to join though.” She answered. Was that really her mother who had just not disapproved of her actions? 

“It was amusing.” She said and shimmied around her mother up the stairs. 

“Henry and I will be attending the miracle tonight. I want you to stay here.” She said before Azra could disappear in her room. “Roger that” She said and escaped her mother’s disapproving looks by closing her door. 

She had barely entered the room when it knocked on the window. She went over to it to open it for Ella. Because who else could it be. Ella climbed in her room holding the bag with the mask in it. To Azra’s questioning look she explained:

“So since we’re not going to the miracle tonight I thought we could use the time to take a good look at the mask again. You know since you got some new insides from ya dad.” 

“Don’t call him that, that’s weird.” She said pulling a face. “So we’re not going to the miracle?” She took the mask from Ella. Apparently already excepting that they’d spend their evening in tonight. 

“Mhm, Descole said it would be small circle. Would be too dangerous. They’d probably find out who we are immediately.” She said. She took a picture from her bag. She had gone back to the hotel to Henry’s bureau and taken a picture from the conspiracy wall. She had spent the time Azra had spent conversing with Layton with getting the photo developed. She had also gone back to her place to pick up some useful maps. 

“Okay so I went through the articles and such at D & R’s room and took some notes.” She said laying all of it on the desk. 

“D & R?” asked Azra amused 

“Whatever. So we know that quite some of the stuff he deciphered he got wrong. The map was whack but we have a good starting point.” Azra sat down on the chair in front of the desk and leaned over the notes. Ella stood next to her making a rough sketch of the useful stuff from the photo of the wall. 

They spent a good hour huddled over maps, notes and the Mask. Angela and Henry went to the miracle and Angela shouted up to let her know. That was how most communication was done in this household. Angela and Azra shouting through the house while Henry didn’t say anything. 

“Hey look at this.” Azra said after some time. She was holding the mask. They had already figured out that only a part of the mask was a map of the ruins and it lead to the room of the two masks and not to the treasure room. Randall must have been incredibly lucky in his incompetence of making proper maps. Azra was working on the part that was right after it referenced the room of two masks. 

“So this rune means mask.” She explained pointing at the mask once Ella had given her her attention. “And here it is two masks, referencing the room with the two slots for the masks. And I think this is some explanation. But here it says two masks and then this mask is referenced but no other one.” Ella took a look at it. 

“Yea that’s strange. I also noticed that the rune for this mask is different than the rune for mask singular. But when they reference the two masks like here they use the same rune as the chaos mask.” Azra looked at Ella’s notes. There shown were three runes all meaning mask. It was quite obvious because they looked exactly like small masks. Two of the runes were used to describe masks in singular. They were used in the section that probably explained the history of the masks. But interestingly, whenever the mask they were holding was referenced the rune for the masks, plural was used. 

“Look at this.” Azra said, pulling a blank piece of paper. She scribbled the rune for masks on it. Then she took two pens of different colour and wrote over it. When she was finished on the paper could be seen not just the rune for masks but in it the runes for both singular masks. 

“Shit that’s crazy.” Ella said. “They fit together and form one mask.” They looked at each other. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Azra took the mask in her hands. She looked at the Sketch and looked at the mask. The lines that separated the rune masks were also on the real mask. She looked up at Ella. She had also seen it and nodded encouragingly. 

Azra pushed in the mask and really it separated. The mask of Chaos became the real chaos and the order mask. 

“I think we just discovered the mask of order.” Said Ella. 

“Yea. How crazy is that.” Azra relied. 

“What do we do now?” Ella asked. 

“I don’t know.” Azra admitted. 

“We can’t just give it over to Descole. He’s mad with power. Who knows what will happen if they do unlock all of that power.” Ella said. 

Azra sighed. “I know. I just wish I could tell Randall about this. I bet he’d be so proud.” Azra looked down at the masks in her hands. She pushed them back together. “We should hide this.” She said. 

Ella pressed a kiss on Azra’s hair. She lingered there for a moment. There was nothing she could say. She took the mask from Azra’s hands and put it back in the bag. She was about to leave to put it back where she had taken it from when the door opened. 

To understand the following scene there were a few important things to understand. The first thing was that Angela always respected Azra’s privacy, in the way of never entering her room and instead just calling her downstairs by shouting for her. Angela had not been in Azra’s room in years. It was in part to respect Azra’s need for a place that was truly all hers and the tolerance of knowing that Ella regularly visited and that that was supposed to be a secret. Angela didn’t always know when Ella was there but she knew it happened and she really wasn’t keen on walking in on her daughter and her girlfriend doing whatever teenagers did. She’d have to know she had gotten pregnant as a teenager. 

The second thing is that Angela and Henry had just gotten back from the miracle. Or at least that was what it looked like. Really when the Gentleman had kidnapped Angela in the wrong pumpkin park, they had switched her for Descole wearing a costume. And when they had arrived back Henry had mentioned to tell Azra that they were back after she hadn’t shouted up immediately, how she usually did. 

The third thing is that while the costume was extremely convincing so was the roll Angela had built around her. And this was the only reference Descole had. But while Angela was a very quiet, sweet housewife outside of home she became a loud, scary mother monster behind closed doors. Descole did not have that information. 

The door opened and in it stood Angela. Or at least that’s what the girls saw. She looked a bit taken aback by seeing the two girls he was secretly working with, here in the house of the Ledores. He gathered himself fast and slipped back into the role he played. 

“Hello, dear” Now that as the second time Azra startled. “How nice to see you and your friend having such a nice time. Just popped in to say we’re back.” She smiled at them sweetly. There was so much wrong with what Angela had just said that Angela and Ella just stared at her. 

“Well I leave you girls to it. Have a nice lady’s night.” She winked at her and closed the door. The girls stared at the door for a bit longer. 

“Did your mother just wink at us?” Said Ella finally. 

“I have no idea what just happened.” So here is what was really taking Azra aback next to the fact that her mother had come into her room and winked at her. She had called her dear. Angela never used pet names. She thought they were silly and unnecessary. She had referenced to the two girls as friends and said lady’s night without any implications. Now there were so many things wrong with that. Not only that she seemed okay with the fact that her girlfriend was over at such an hour but she didn’t even comment on it. Even after the conversation they had before this seemed like quite the stretch. ‘I just popped in’ where should Azra even begin? 

To put it short Azra was very confused. “I think something happened with my mother.” She said finally. “Wait here for me. I’ll go down and look for her.” She said and was out the door before Ella could respond. 

Downstairs she went to Henry’s study. Luckily he hadn’t run off yet. He did seem to plan to. He always did. But she caught him just before he could vanish. 

“Mother’s acting weird. What happened at that miracle?” Henry looked up from his desk. 

“So you noticed it too. We went to the pumpkin park and went after the Masked Gentleman in the tower where all the electronics are in. When we came out the park was empty. Not a soul around. He said some things to me and then he took Angela hostage. He took her back to the tower where he had released her. I think it must be the shock.” He explained.

Azra thought about that. While it surely was an explanation it didn’t fit with Angela. She had never been one to look for contact in hard times. Just like everyone in this family she kept to herself if she didn’t feel strong enough to be around people. 

Then she remembered something Ella had told her in the tube back from the hotel. She didn’t remember too much about the conversation but she did remember Ella mentioning getting a spy in their ranks.

Before she could finish the thought Henry was pushing her out of the room. “I have to go. I’m sure your mother is fine. I don’t know when I’ll be back.” He said. Just then Angela came to the hallway. Henry was about to flinch at being shouted at again for leaving. But instead Angela said. 

“Some Father Daughter time?” She startled when she saw Henry ready to leave. “Oh Henry dear do you already have to leave again? Can’t the important life of a busy man wait for one evening? You never have time for your wife and your daughter anymore.” 

Azra and Henry stared at her then looked at each other. “I don’t have time for this. She’ll be fine.” He said to Azra. He didn’t sound very convincing. But whatever he wanted to do was more important than the fact that Angela seemed to be losing it. He left through the door, probably to bust his boyfriend out of jail. 

Azra looked at the closed door. Henry had just left her with this situation. She wasn’t surprised. But a little bit angry. She looked back at her mother. 

“Oh don’t be upset dear. The miracle was hard on him.” Azra still looked repelled. 

“Are you okay mother? Did you hit your head or something?” Azra tried not to think about the spy thing. 

“It was quite a shock when the masked gentleman took me hostage but don’t you worry about me I’m alright now.” Okay this was it. Angela had never called the Gent by his full title. She refused to address him as such and encourage his image. 

Azra squinted at Angela. “Would you bring me and my friend something to drink?” This was a test and a trap obviously. Her mother would never bring drinks up for her. She always said they had two perfectly functional legs. She also disapproved of drinks and food in other places than the sitting room, the dining room and the kitchen. When she accepted Ella and her could trap her in her room and question her. 

“Of course honey” Azra almost gagged at that. “Do you also want snacks?” Angela continued digging her own grave.

“Yes, sure.” She said and went past the wrong Angela up the stairs. 

Ella waited in her room for Azra. She had put the mask in a drawer for now. Even if it was in the bag, they didn’t have to go waving it about for everyone to discover. Azra closed the door and immediately went to grab a pocket knife and throw one to Ella. 

“That isn’t my mother. She’ll come up any minute than we can find out who it really is.” She grabbed a baseball bat from the corner of her room. She positioned herself behind the door. Ella frowned for a moment then realisation dawned on her. “The spy.” Azra nodded. Ella hid her knife. And they waited.

A few minutes later the door opened and Angela stepped through with a tray with snacks and drinks on it. Azra waited until she was fully in the room then she closed the door and stepped in front of it. Ella stood up. Angela stopped.

“Is everything alright girls?” She said. 

“You can drop the act.” Angela turned around at Azra’s voice and saw her stand there with a baseball bat guarding the door. 

“I don’t understand.” She said. But it was clear that she only tried to keep her act up. She was losing it. The girls just looked at her expectant. She put down the tray on the desk. She glanced at the papers but turned around again. 

“Well I guess you got me.” She said. Except her voice was about an octave deeper.

“Descole?” Ella recognised his voice. She as maybe a bit too amused by this. 

“How did I give myself away?” He asked as if he was unbelievably proud of his performance. 

“About everything you said was the opposite of how my mother would be acting.” Azra said. 

“Yea, your Angela is shit.” Agreed Ella. 

“Do you two maybe want to fill me in on what you’re doing here?” Descole asked. 

“Don’t you want to take that of first?” Asked Ella. Descole hesitated but then with a swooping motion he had replaced his Angela costume with his feather boa look. Ella couldn’t supress a laugh. “Dude you’re wearing your full costume underneath a costume. You’re mental.” Azra shot her a look and she tried to keep her laughing down. 

Descole ignored her. “Well miss Ledore. Care to elaborate?” He said to Azra. 

“So your plan was to convince Layton to get you the mask of order by dressing up as Angela?” She asked him, ignoring his demand. 

He did the same and said. “So were you going to tell me that Angela and Henry not only have a daughter but that said daughter is you? Randall is going to find this immensely interesting.” 

“Where is my mother mister? I’m sure the police would find it immensely interesting to find out where your hotel room is.” Countered Azra trying to hide the panic she felt rising. Randall would find out and hate her. Descole did an equally bad job at hiding his panic. He had taken a risk and that risk was threatening him with the police right now.

Ella sighed. This wasn’t going anywhere. They’d be here by tomorrow if she didn’t do something. Before Descole could continue the very pointless conversation she cut in. “Okay first of all your plan sucks.” She said to Descole. “And second of all it’s Miss Ascott not Miss Ledore.” She waited for that to sink in and ignored Azra’s panicked looks.

“Yes Azra over here is Randall’s kid. He doesn’t know this. But we’d appreciate it if he didn’t find out. At least for now. We don’t work for Layton we’re working for ourselves. Oh and I’m Azra’s girlfriend not just her ‘gal pal’.” She continued. Now they had to hope for Descole not being a dick.

He took a while to respond. “Randall’s daughter, huh? Why not tell him?” 

Well that was definitely a start. “There’s a lot of emotional baggage there. You know he kind of left her and Angela.” Explained Ella. Azra just stood there clutching the bat fighting with the panic.

“Why seek him out then?” He asked. 

“He’s my father.” Azra replied immediately. It was almost like a reflex for her to answer this. The very question had plagued her from the moment she had seen her father. “I heard so much about him and I thought he was dead. Of course I wanted to meet him.” 

“They told you of him?” Descole asked. This kind of took her out of her trance. It was a strangely stupid question for someone who was supposed to have done research on the Ledore family.

“Yea obviously. Literally everything Henry has done in the last 18 years if not ever was for Randall. Of course they told me stories about him.” She said. “Did you not do any research on them?” 

Descole pulled a face. “Not really. I learned what I needed about them to make Randall angry when he heard about it. And I stopped there.” He admitted.

“Yea we could tell from your performance.” Ella said.

“Well are you going to tell him?” Asked Azra. He looked at her scared face, her clutching hands and her defensive stature. She really relied on him for this. Something in him softened. He had had a daughter once. What he wouldn’t give to meet her again. He understood Azra. 

“I won’t. But you’ll have to help us. For real this time.” He said. Some of the tension left Azra’s body. 

“Of course. We don’t really have a lot of inside into Layton’s side but we have a lot of knowledge of the city.” Agreed Azra immediately.

“Well I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?” He said. And moved towards the door. 

“Wait, wait, wait. You still have my mother.” Azra hardened the grip on her bat again. 

“I guess I do.” He said. He had actually forgotten about that. “Meet me at the hotel in 20 and I’ll lead you to her.” 

“Why don’t we just go to the hotel together?” Said Azra. She didn’t trust him. That was probably a wise choice. He tended to use people for his plans. 

“I can hardly just walk through the city like this.” He pointed to his outfit. “I have my ways of getting around but I can’t take you. So we’ll have to meet there. Okay?” 

That made sense, somewhat. They also didn’t really have a choice. Azra moved out of the way as an answer. She thought about adding something like ‘don’t try anything funny or else’ but she didn’t have a threat so she didn’t. He walked past her and disappeared in the hallway. They watched the door for a minute and then looked at each other. 

“Shall we?” asked Ella.

“Do you think he’ll tell Randall?” Azra was looking at the door again. 

“I don’t know but we can’t change it now. Come on we need to find your mother.” Ella walked past her into the dark hallway. Descole was nowhere to be seen. She was scared to have let down Azra and her new growing relationship with her father. She wasn’t sure if Azra would forgive her for that. She wasn’t sure if she’d deserve to be forgiven.

Azra followed her and together they stepped into the city at night. They walked through dark streets. They seemed to do that a lot these days. On the way to the Hotel they met only a few poor souls that lost their money and maybe their future to the casinos. 

The Hotel laid bright in front of them. As soon as you got into the gambling district of the city it was always light as day. They stood in front of the hotel for five minutes when Descole came out wearing his regular clothes. 

“Well that was quick.” Said Ella

“I said I was faster alone. Now come.” He turned around and led the girls into the hotel. A little nervous they followed suit. They left the lobby behind them and moved up the elevator to the tenth floor. They got out and he lead them to a hotel room. He opened the door and gestured for them to go in. 

“Aren’t you going to come in with us?” Asked Azra. She wasn’t about to get locked in by some crazy man on the tenth floor of a hotel. 

“I’d rather not be seen by her. You can have the keys. I won’t need the room after this. Just give them back to the desk after.” He handed the keys to Ella. “Oh and don’t worry about your father. I’ll make up an excuse for not being under cover anymore.” He almost smiled at them. “See you tomorrow girls.” He turned around and left in the elevator. 

Azra nodded at Ella and stepped inside the room. In the middle of the room stood a chair. Tied to that chair sat Angela. She was awake. She hadn’t been for long and when she had woken up she had been very confused and even more scared. Waking up tied up in a dark room was really scary after all. She looked up when the girls entered the room.  
She looked afraid but ready to bust some ass, even when tied to a chair. But when she recognised the girls her face lit up. 

“Azra what are you doing here?” 

“Don’t worry mom we’re here to free you. We’re not in danger. And we didn’t get in danger to get here so you can calm down.” Azra said recognising her mother’s parenting tone. She might have rolled her eyes too but she was already behind her mother untying the ropes. Ella helped by untying the knots on her hands. She was untied in a minute, four hands who were good with knots were fast at doing so.

When she was freed Azra hugged her mother tightly. Angela might have felt a strange hand at her throat, feeling for a mask or a trap, but it didn’t find anything and she didn’t mention it. Angela pulled away from her daughter.  
“Azra, what is this about? Do you care to explain the situation to me?” She said in a polite tone. This was her mother, no doubt. Only her mother would be politely distant and formal in such a situation. So no ruse. You could never be too careful with people like Descole. Not that you’d normally run across people like him.

“It’s a long story.” Said Azra. “Now we should get out of this hotel and go home. We can explain on our way home.” Azra spend their time to get out of the hotel to come up with an excuse real quick. Because she could hardly tell her mother that she was working with the maniacs that terrorized her city from which one of whom is her long thought dead father. So lying it was. Or maybe twisting the truth a bit. That sounded nicer. 

“Well as far as we can tell, you were kidnapped by the masked gentleman and some other guy disguised himself as you. But of course we found out and took him captive. We found this key with him and deduced that you must be here.” Azra explained while they sat in the subway. It wasn’t entirely true but it was close enough not to make Azra guilty. 

“That was dangerous you shouldn’t have done that. Where was Henry during all of this?” Asked Angela. 

“I don’t know he rushed off immediately. To save his boyfriend probably. From prison, where he put him.” Azra replied a little bit annoyed. By both the fact that Henry never stayed to help with anything and that Angela wasn’t even remotely thankful but went full on parenting immediately. 

“Well I’m glad you two are fine and” She made a break and smiled at her daughter. “I’m thankful you saved me.” 

Well that was more than Azra had hoped for. It lifted her mood significantly. 

They walked Ella home, because of course her mother wouldn’t allow her daughters girlfriend to sleep over. Not even after they just saved her. They had been rightfully suspicious about the wrong Angela not at all being bothered by Ella’s presence. 

“So you two are together?” The two girls sat in Descole’s hotel room. Randall was once more out running errands. 

“Yes for 2 years now.” 

“Got a problem with it?” Azra glared at him.

“No why would I? I don’t even know you two.” 

“You know the gay thing. Anyhow what are you doing when you’re not plotting crazy plans to destroy the world?” Azra asked knowing full well it would annoy the shit out of him. She was right of course.

“I don’t plan to destroy the world. And my plans are intelligent and ambitious not crazy!” He glared at them or the room between them or the world it was hard to pinpoint. 

“Doing giant magic tricks in a city to get your nemesis to get you a mask you could also just look for yourself sounds kinda crazy to me.” Argued Ella.

“And getting all the artefacts so you can get all the power and knowledge of some ancient civilization sounds a lot like taking over the world to me.” Added Azra. 

Descole sighed. “You two are never going to stop pointing out the errors of my plans are you?” 

“It’s called constructive criticism. You should thank us!” said Ella. 

Descole rolled his eyes. “What can you two tell me about the city?” 

Ella pulled out the maps she had promised. She thought the poor man could probably use a break from them picking on him constantly. 

“I brought a map of the city and one of the ruins, an accurate one.” She laid the maps next to each other. She then rummaged in her bag until she pulled out a pack of pins and some post-it notes. She started putting pins in the maps and stuck post-its on them. 

She started explaining her system to Descole, going into details of entrances to the ruins and pointed out sights and where they lined up with the ruins. Azra leaned back happy to have someone to listen to her girlfriend ramble about maps. They both had their things and they happily listened to each other but having a break now and then was nice. She picked up one of the books Ella had referenced the day before in their analysis of the mask. 

They sat there almost content with talking and reading and being in each other’s company. After a while Randall joined them he sat with Azra and they talked about the book she had in her hand at that moment. It was almost strange how well they got along with each other. Not just Azra and Randall but also the girls with Descole. 

“So any more miracles planed?” Asked Ella after a while. 

“Well according to the plan today should be the big last miracle.” He said that sentence so uncertain and unfinished that Ella couldn’t resist saying: “But?” Descole took a moment before replying. 

“But the circumstances have significantly changed. In more than one way.” He said finally. “There is the obvious one.” He nodded towards Azra. “But what you two don’t know yet is that the mask we use isn’t the real one. It was stolen a few days back. And without the mask of chaos the mask of order won’t really do much for us.” He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He took of his glasses to clean them. “At first we thought it was Layton or one of his minions, maybe one of you, but since you don’t actually work for him it could be anyone.” He sighed again and put on his glasses again. They weren’t cleaner than before but he had given up on cleaning them. 

Ella did her absolute best to look as guiltless as possible. It didn’t work super well but he didn’t look at her so that was fine. She also had no idea what to say to that. The mask was still laying in Azra’s room in the bag in the drawer. She could hardly suggest just getting it for him. Even if they might be working with the two that didn’t mean they needed to get their plans working any faster than absolutely necessary. 

“So what are you going to do instead? I believe it will be hard convincing that wacko to lay low. With his whole revenge shtick he must be pretty determined.” She looked over to Randall who was having a very intense but still very peaceful conversation with Azra. It was hard to imagine him in that costume mocking his ex and his old friends. 

“I’ll think of something.” Said Descole. Ella eyed him unconvinced. Descole looked away deliberately. He was unconvinced also. 

“What was the last miracle anyway?” asked Ella. 

“Something with fairy tales that represent the wrongs done to him and then Layton reveals him after he saves his friend from falling, that’s a throwback to how Layton didn’t save him or something. And then he threatens to blow up the cliff setting an avalanche on the city which Layton will stop with the masks.” Descole explained.

“An avalanche are you crazy?” shouted Ella. Azra and Randall looked at her. 

“Keep it down I’m not actually supposed to talk about it with you. Top secret and all.” He said gesturing her to calm down.

“You lost your mind. There are millions of people in this city. You can’t risk all of their lives for your stupid crazy plans.” She whisper screamed. 

“They won’t be in danger. Layton has never let anyone down.” 

“You just told me he dropped Randall. You can’t put all of these people’s lives on the line just because you think the guy who is a bit cleverer than you is infallible.” 

“He is not cleverer than me. And that was when he was a kid. And I know what he can do. I trust him with this.” Descole tried his best to justify his action. While he said he trusted Layton he noticed he did. He had seen what he could do. But there was more. It was obviously because he was his little brother. Maybe it was the thing that makes you stick with your family even if they drove you mad. The primal urge to stick with your pack. The survival instinct that kept you alive. Maybe it was shared trauma. They had lived through the falling apart of their family together even if Layton did not remember. Maybe he just wanted to protect his brother like he had done from the beginning, defend him even if it was just from this teenager.

“I don’t give a shit whether you trust him or not. I don’t trust him or anyone enough to lay the fate of millions of people in their hands. What’s wrong with you? There are actual people’s lives on the line. It’s not one of your ridiculous magic tricks. This is madness. Also you just told me you don’t have the mask anymore.” 

Desole did see her point and he had to admit she was right about some of it. He had gotten carried away with his plans. Seemed to run in the family. It embarrassed him to think he was like his father. But that was something everyone had to face at some point. Being like their family.

“Well like I said I am not actually planning on going through with it. Not now anyway.” Ella glared at him.  
“Not right now? So once you have the mask again you’ll go through with it? You are despicable. And you think your hands would be the right ones to put power and knowledge in.” She stood up rapidly. She turned to Azra who was looking at her surprised. “I’m leaving you can stay if you want.” She turned around and left through the door. 

She knew where to go. She had a plan. Or at least a destination and an end goal. It had to do. She was going to destroy the mask. If people like Descole were behind the knowledge of these people and the mask was an important piece to it she was going to stop them. Nobody knew how to handle it apparently so she’d just make sure they never got to. And as long as the mask was gone Descole wouldn’t blow up her city. So he just wouldn’t get the mask back. Ella would make sure of it. 

She was out of the door and halfway out of the hotel already when Azra decided to follow her. Descole accompanied her. 

“I made her mad. It was the plan. I didn’t think it through and she called me out. I need to set this straight.” He said when she asked him why he was coming with her. 

She stopped him. “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping us? Why do you feel like setting thigs straight with her? We don’t actually know you. And you don’t know us. What do you get from this?” 

“Why do I have to get something from this? I just want to help. Is that not enough?” 

“You don’t strike me as the kind of person to do that.” She said with a cold stare. She didn’t seem to be ready to move on without getting an answer. The problem was that he did not have an answer. He didn’t know why he wanted to set things right with Ella. He did not know why he felt so bad. He didn’t know why these girls made him question his decisions, why he suddenly reflected on things he did. Why he thought of family now. He really shouldn’t have. There was a lot of things to do. He had things to plan and a mask to find. He had an organization to beat to the legacy of an old civilization. So why did he want to apologize to a girl he had just met. 

The easy answer, easy not for him but to understand for someone who wasn’t him, was that Azra and Ella reminded him of the child he had lost. The less easy answer was that the two even with Randall reminded him of the families he lost over the years. And the answer that was least hard on him was that he really did not want to become like his father.

He did not find any of that easy and he did not want to think about any of it because it meant some real soul searching and he was not in a mental position to do that right now. But he did need to tell Azra something. 

“Well you help me so I help you. Easy as that. Now can we please move along?” 

When they stepped out of the hotel Ella was already on a tube to the heart of the city. It was past noon and soon Descole would have to come up with something to distract Randall with but now he didn’t think of that. 

The drive from the hotel Reunion to the main city station took half an hour. Ella had been lucky and gotten a train that was about to leave. Azra and Descole were less lucky and had to wait another ten minutes for a train. Ella had a 15 minutes head start and she was in and out of the Ledore’s house by the point the other two arrived in the city centre. They also did not know where Ella would go. They first checked Azra’s room, because it was closest but also because Descole already knew that, no need to introduce him to new locations. But she was gone by that point. What Azra did notice was that the mask was gone. She had remembered where she had put it away in the morning. The drawer stood open and so was the window and Ella’s skateboard was gone. It had still laid here from when they had stolen the mask. She hadn’t picked it up yet. Azra hoped it had been Ella. 

Azra decided to look for her in the ruins. Ella did not have safe spots to look for in like Azra had. Sure she had her and her mom’s place and the hotel reunion was one of her favourite places but both of those were out right now since Ella would surely expect to be followed. And Ella was smart enough to at least consider the possibility of Descole being after her too. So the ruins were the one spot where Azra had at least a slight chance of finding Ella. She didn’t like the thought of Ella alone and upset in the labyrinth. Not even if Ella knew it as well as no one else did. 

Ella had indeed gone down in the ruins. It was possibly the most dangerous thing she ever did, because not only was she down in the ruins alone without anyone knowing, she also had taken her skateboard and rode it through the ancient halls. She did not go for the room of the masks she was heading for the one part of the ruins that were strictly forbidden. The hole in the ground where the ruins had first swallowed Randall. Sure it wasn’t perfect just throwing the mask down there and hoping it would stay lost but she didn’t really see an alternative. Maybe melting or smashing the mask would work but she had neither a melting pot nor a sledgehammer. So throwing it down there had to do. It had kept Randall away for 18 years so maybe it would take this inanimate object away for a decent time too and then maybe there wouldn’t be any lunatics around to take over the world with it. 

The ride through the tunnels cleared her head a bit. That gave her time to think. Unfortunately the longer she thought about it the less rational her decision seemed. Coming down here was a crazy idea and trying to get rid of the mask like this wouldn’t fix anything. She stopped at the hole that had taken so much from her girlfriend’s family. She sat down her feet dangling over the edge. She stared down the darkness for a couple of minutes. Then she took out the mask and held it over the edge. Was it really worth all of this loss it had caused already? Was it really valuable enough to justify the things that had been planned to obtain it? She didn’t know and she wasn’t really keen on finding out. 

But throwing it away would just give the responsibility to someone else. And she was afraid of a lot of things but taking responsibility was not one of those. She was going to keep the mask hidden. It was a shit job for sure and it might even get dangerous but she did not want to risk this power getting into the hands of someone who would use it for the wrong things. She wasn’t positive her hands were the right hands but for just keeping the mask away from other eope she’d have to do. She put the mask back in her backpack. She stood up and turned back. She had just picked up her skateboard when she heard hurried footsteps. Moments later Descole and Azra came in the room. Azra had panic in her expression and Ella immediately felt bad. 

“Ella are you alight? What are you doing here?” She hurried to her and pulled her in a hug. 

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. I can take care of myself.” She looked over to Descole. Then she made a decision. “I threw the mask in the hole.” 

Azra took a sharp breath and held Ella at arm’s length from her. She had trouble deciding whether to be angry or confused. 

“What mask do you mean?” said Descole from behind them. There was a dangerous undertone in his voice. 

“The mask of chaos. I stole it from Randall.” She pushed Azra’s arms of her shoulders and started walking to the doorway to the tunnels. “It’s better down there. Nobody should have that much power.” 

She didn’t make it past Descole. He gripped her arm and yanked her towards her. “What have you done?” 

“What needed to be done. This whole Azran legacy shit is far too much power. No one knows what their legacy is. For all we know it could be mass destruction. And you just run blindly into it because of some stupid race.” She tried pulling her arm away from him but he was strong, far stronger than in the alleyway. He had not been angry then now he was furious.

“That was my lifework you just threw into that hole.” 

“Well maybe you should get a new hobby” She shouted and brought he knee up between his legs with all the force she could gather. He bend over and loosened his grip. She yanked her arm free and kicked him in the side. Then Azra was next to her and they ran. They sprinted through the hallways and out of the ruins. They turned to Ella’s apartment. They would not be followed there. Descole did not know where it was. 

As soon as the door to Ella’s room was closed and they caught their breath Azra got angry. 

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you throw the mask away? We cracked the code we could find out what the mask does!” She shouted. Ella glared at her. 

“Did you not listen to anything I said? This mask holds too much power and if I’m the only one who can see that I have to make sure it’s not misused. And look at what has happened until now. It drove your father into leaving his family behind and it made Descole totally mad and now it’s doing the same to you.” 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about this mask is an important artefact, and it could hold the key to world peace and curing world hunger and all diseases and you just throw it away like that? It’s not cursed you sound crazy. You’re the one who’s mad.” 

“Do you really think a civilisation that just disappeared from one day to the next has all the answers to our questions? We could solve those problems ourselves if we weren’t so focused on abusing the power we are given. Why would this one be any different?” 

“Because knowledge is power and I need to know! I need to know what they hide! I need to know what is so great about them! I need to understand why they are so much better than what my mother could give!” Azra had started crying. The last sentence was mostly sobs. 

“How do you not see what it’s doing to you?” Ella said quietly. She couldn’t just stand there watching her girlfriend cry. She sighed and picked up a pack of paper towels and handed it to her sitting down on the floor next to her. They sat there for a moment. Azra crying and Ella just sitting. 

“I didn’t really throw it in the hole.” Ella said after a while. “It would have just been putting the responsibility of thinking about what to do with it on someone else. I am just going to keep it. To never give it away so it won’t get to the wrong hands.” She stared at the ceiling and waited. She waited for Azra to get up and get the mask or to say something or to get very angry again. 

She did not do any of that. She stopped crying and then just sat there with Ella. Backs leaned against the wall eyes on the ceiling. 

“What are we going to do about it?” She said at last. 

“I don’t know. Descole had planned to blow a hole in one of the cliffs breaking free an avalanche to bury the city. He counted on Layton to find the second mask and activate a mechanism in the ruins that would protect the city.” 

“He what?” Azra turned to her full of shock. 

“I know that’s why I did that. Now that he thinks the mask is gone he can’t go through with his plan.” Ella explained. She was very tired. 

“But Randall doesn’t know that. What if he goes through with the plan?” 

Ella shook her head. “No, Descole said he would talk to him about postponing it.” 

“Well he didn’t. We followed you immediately. Nobody talked to Randall.” She jumped up. “We need to go to the hotel immediately.” 

They were on their feet and out of the house in no time. Only taking the backpack that held the mask with them. They ran through the streets to the subway and spend the ride on it praying that Randall hadn’t done anything stupid. 

They arrived at the hotel just early enough to see Randall on a balcony on the hotel, unmasked talking down to Layton and company, Angela and Henry. About the minute they arrived Descole showed up too, now wearing his costume. 

“I knew you were behind all of this.” Said Layton as a greeting to Descole who ignored him completely to shout up at Randall. 

“Do not trigger the explosion!” Randall looked down at him with a puzzled expression. 

“But the plan?” Descole shook his head. 

“Fuck the plan! Come down here!”

Reluctantly Randall complied and came down from the balcony to meet the group of people. In the time it took him to get down here Angela noticed her daughter and commanded her over to her to be angry at her to her face for not telling her where she had been and for other nonrelated reasons that probably didn’t have anything to do with Azra in the first place. It had probably a lot to do with the fact that Randall had reappeared and acted like a maniac and an asshole. 

When Randall appeared down in front of the hotel he stood a bit of from them and waited for Descole to tell him what to do next. While he stood there he noticed how Azra and Angela were close together. Not a ‘we are both shocked and therefore we huddle together’ close but a ‘we know each other very well’ close. 

Layton picked up on that and went in to introduce them to each other. Now Layton’s thought processes are quite ineffable and who knows where he had planned for this to go. What did happen was that when Layton said: “Randall have you met Angela’s daughter?” He could not finish that introduction because Randall got extremely furious. 

“Daughter? You have children? You don’t just take my life, my love and my wealth from me but my family too? How dare you? And you lying to me the entire time. I can’t believe it.” The first thing he said to Henry and the last to Azra. And before anyone could say anything he had pushed the trigger. “You will all suffer for this!” 

“No!” screamed Descole horror in his face and he froze. Somewhere above the city something exploded.

“Your precious city will be buried under sand like you buried my chances for the life that is rightfully mine!”

Layton made a very thoughtful face and then said: “Just give me the mask. I’m sure the mechanism of the ruins will be able to save the city and everyone in it.” 

“We don’t have the mask.” Said Descole he was still practically frozen in place. His voice quiet.

“Well the one you used was a fake but that was to be expected, carrying the real one would be far too dangerous. You just have to give me the real one from where you hide it.” Layton said with confidence. 

“I do not have the mask. It was stolen and then it was disposed of.” Descole answered almost calm. He looked so very tired. It was quite strange how he had not thrown them under the bus yet. “There is nothing we can do. It’s too late to evacuate, we might not even make it out alive.” He sounded very tired. 

“Yes there is.” Said Ella at last. She didn’t want this. This would only lead to worse things but she could not let a whole city full of people die. She pulled out the bag with the mask. Descole’s face lit up only to go dark again. 

“You lied to me. Why did you tell me you threw away the mask?” He asked.

“Because you’re a maniac who wanted to blow a hole in a cliff and let an avalanche loose onto a city full of people. Because this stupid mask and that legacy is driving you all insane. Because if you thought it was gone maybe you would let it go, live a normal life!” She shouted. “How was I to know this maniac” She pointed to Randall, “Would lose it and trigger the explosion anyway?” 

“I am no maniac!” said Randall and stepped an intimidating step closer to them, or at least that’s what he wanted it to be.

“Exhibit A” Ella said and pointed at the cliff. 

“Okay children, we get it.” Said Azra taking the mask from Ella and ran towards the next entrance to the ruins. There was one in the back garden of the hotel. It wasn’t the safest but it was do or die here anyway so it didn’t really matter. The rest of them followed Azra in the lead, Ella caught up with her. They moved through the ruins quietly hoping to be fast enough. 

In the room of masks they wasted no time waiting for the rest but pulled out the mask, separated it into two and placed them on the stone pillars. 

They sank down and more stone pillars arose. 

“What the fuck, did it not work?” Ella asked no one in particular. Fear gripped them. Had they failed? 

Layton came in the room, slightly panting from running after them. He immediately went down to them.

“So you figured out that the two masks were actually one?” He said. 

“Yea, do you know what this is?” Ella asked him. If Descole trusted him to figure out how to solve shit under pressure she might as well give him a chance here. He did not disappoint. He went around the room and moved pillars and suddenly the room shook. What had happened was that the ruins reshifted and with that gave way for the sand that was already flowing into the city to sink into the hallways of the ruins. 

“We have to get out of here, before we get buried in here” Instructed Layton. They used the shortcut that was not part of the ruins that had been dug by the search teams. Since it was not part of the ruins it was not currently shifting as much as the rest of the place did.

Up above they could calm down at last. Taking a big breath and letting the responsibilities go at last. Or at least that’s what they thought. Because they were up barely a minute when Randall started raging again. 

“How could you do that? Have you and your useless father not taken enough from me? Now you had to take my revenge from me too.” He screamed at Azra. 

Now screaming at Azra was a bad idea if you weren’t Angela or Ella and you were in the presence of her loved once. Both Ella and Angela already got ready to put him in his place. Before either of them could start though Azra had already taken matter into her own hand. 

“How dare I? Are you fucking kidding me? You tried to kill everyone in this city and you tell me I’m taking something from you.” The anger she had accumulated over her years finally surfaced and she snapped. “You were gone my entire life, you decided against this family and for your stupid adventure and you dare hold that against anyone but yourself! Henry raised me when he really did not have to. He raised a kid that was not his and never lost hope in you coming back like the total idiot he is and you dare blame him for your lack of responsibility? You are the absolute worst person here. And honestly I’m glad I did not have to grow up with you as my father.” 

Azra was practically fuming but felt better already. Randall looked frightened and confused. Azra had definitely inherited her mother’s ability to make people feel like children when screaming at them. The rest of them looked a mixture of embarrassed and impressed. Some more impressed than others. Some of them also looked shocked. Angela almost looked proud. 

“You’re my child?” Asked Randall at last. It had taken him a moment to process what had just been said. 

“Yes, she is.” This was Henry who made a careful step towards him. “And we have waited for you all those years, all three of us.”

“I didn’t” mumbled Azra. 

“Yea, neither did I actually.” Agreed Angela quietly. 

Henry ignored them “All of this is yours.” He gestured around him. “The city is not just build in your name. All the paperwork is made out to you.” He looked very desperate while he said this. 

Angela looked a bit guilty. “I actually changed that.” Henry turned to her shocked and betrayed. 

“No, why?” 

Angela shrugged “The guy is legally dead, he can’t own shit. You can’t do taxes for someone who is dead. And I’m not getting sued for tax fraud. It’s not my fault that you haven’t been doing our taxes. I did what I had to.” 

“Well who owns all of this then?” Henry asked.

“Me, obviously. I build up almost all of it anyway.” Angela answered. “You would know that if you were to actually talk to me instead of sneaking away with your ‘secret boyfriend’” She made air-quotes for that. Henry looked extremely shocked. “What did you think I didn’t know? I know everything that happens in this city.” 

Henry dared to glare at her for that. It was possibly the bravest thing he had ever done. 

“Wait a minute. I’m confused. Did you or did you not take everything from me?” Randall intervened in their conversation.

“I didn’t take anything from you. Everything I have I earned myself. None of this is rightfully yours. Not after you left me after I begged you not to go. Not after you ignored my trauma and ran head first into the wall that was your stupid adventure. You knew that would trigger my trauma and you still went. You left me alone with a child to raise on my own. You can be glad that Henry is the wonderful person and friend that he is. You don’t deserve him, neither do I. But that’s not how friendship works. Not that you would understand that.” 

“Angela stop!” Okay maybe this was the bravest thing Henry had ever done. “Yes Randall was gone for all of Azra’s life and yes he did not consider your perspective or feelings when he left and maybe he tended to be a bit bossy but he was always a good friend. He gave me that robot remember?” 

Azra and Angela both rolled their eyes. The robot. That had always been Henry’s lifeline.

“Look he was a terrible friend and maybe even a terrible person.” Said Angela “And his reappearance was over and over questionable and he’ll have to face consequences for that. But you’re right, that doesn’t mean he’s not our friend anymore. He’s back from the dead and I for one actually moved on a while ago so I am ready to give him another chance if he is willing to try again.” 

Randall had been sinking into himself when Henry and Angela had started arguing. He resembled a standing heap of limbs more than a person now. But when Angela had spoken of another chance hope bloomed in him. Maybe he would be able to start over.

“That is if Azra is ready for that. Because even if I am willing to forgive all he did to us, if you” She turned to Azra, “are not ready to let him in I will not let him.” 

Azra and Angela shared a look and Azra smiled. Her mother’s motivation really was her happiness. She turned to Randall. He looked scared and desperate. He was not the Hero she had heard stories about as an infant. He was not the adventurer she had imagined him as a child. He was not the monster she had made him into in her adolescence. And he was not the idea she imagined her mother and Henry worshiping. He was just a person. A stranger. And what she had seen behind his facades in the last days was not too bad. They had things in common. Maybe having him around wouldn’t be too bad. 

“He can stay. Not as my father. That opportunity passed eighteen years ago. But as a friend of you and maybe even of me.” She smiled a bit and took her mother’s hand. If Ella could be happy with only a mother then so could she. She took Ella’s hand in her other hand.

“Will you stay a bit longer with us Hershel?” Angela asked. “You actually haven’t said anything about this yet.” 

Layton smiled at her, politely like an old friend that distanced himself long ago. “I’m not part of your family. I didn’t want to intrude.” 

“Nonsense! You’re as much part of our family as Randall. Please join us at least for a dinner.” They shared a smile. 

“I will. For old time’s sake.” 

“For old time’s sake. With all of us. Your friends and Henry you get Dalston and we get granny and Randall your strange companion can come too.” She looked around “Where is he?” 

“Oh he left halfway through your argument. Snuck off. I didn’t think it was important enough to interrupt you.” Said Ella. She had let him get away maybe because she didn’t want to interrupt but maybe also because she thought there was a potential in him to not fuck the whole Azran Legacy shit up. Maybe she even liked him a little bit. 

“Well there’s nothing to do about that now. Please, join me in our mansion. Ella if you like you can invite your mother. I’ve always liked her.” Angela was already on her way towards the east of the town. 

“You did?” asked Ella more to herself than to Angela but then she shrugged. A free meal was a free meal and her mom would be delighted. She was one of those super social people. She and Azra made their way to her building. Henry and Layton took Randall between them and for the rest of the day everything would be very wonderful. 

Not quite like old times, not quite there in a new life but somewhere in between. It was a very nice in between. A space where for the night everyone fit just perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. 
> 
> I really love the PL games and I had so much fun diving into the world of this game and explore it beyond the boundries of the gameplay. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading it.


End file.
